The journey begins. 8am. I’ve just cycled north to south through the bustling traffic heavy centre of Edinburgh. I arrive, lock up my bike, pull out a clip…
From this time of year onwards Scottish gardens are coloured with Rhododendrons in flower. At RBGE Rhododendron meddianum var. atrokermesinum is flowering in the lower woodland garden. Native…
Last night saw the final performance of Watching, a collaborative project between musicians, historians, sleep scientists and primary schools which began in January 2014. The Garden provided the…
February 2015 was chilly for the most part with temperatures mostly not rising above 7 degrees C, and with a light snowfall near the beginning of the month….
I spent an hour today in a discussion with a group of MSc Gastronomy students from Queen Margaret University considering whether there is a distinctive Scottish cuisine. More…
Ribes sanguineum ‘Albidum’ is an easily grown and propagated deciduous shrub that never fails to flower. The racemes of flowers develop as the new growth expands. These racemes…
The Scots plant collector George Forrest (1873-1932) is now known as a talented photographer, though he didn’t necessarily enjoy the process of using a cumbersome glass plate camera,…
Not just a new species, but a new section, Begonia section Oligandrae, which is endemic to the highlands of New Guinea and comprises five species. This section provides…
George Forrest was a prolific plant hunter; it’s estimated that here in the herbarium there are around 31,000 pressed plant specimens collected by Forrest and his team of…
Plant Collector George Forrest (1873-1932) introduced over 300 new rhododendron species to Britain but one in particular dwarfed all of these, Rhododendron protistum, which is represented in our…
George Forrest was first sent to China in 1904 by the Regius Keeper Isaac Bayley Balfour. On this and six subsequent expeditions Forrest collected prolifically in NW Yunnan,…
At this time of year wild fluctuations in air temperature are often experienced. Over the weekend, a high of 14.8oc was recorded at the Garden. The following two…
Last monday (2nd March 2015) I headed across to Benmore Botanic Garden with Martin Gardner & Nye Hughes (designer and web developer at Dalrymple), while there I saw…
An apt name for a flower that bursts into colour at the start of the growing season. Iris ‘Vivacious Beginnings’ is one of several cultivars new to the…
Watching bees visitng flowers is something to look forward to in the run up to spring. Their choices are far from random and they will specialise in whatever…