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Rhododendron X praecox

Despite the cold weather colour is coming into the garden.  This is Rhododendron X praecox growing by Imverleith House. The photo above was taken on an iPhone and…

Exterminate, exterminate! – a portal into another world

I’m heading to a new part of town to find my next air quality monitoring station and to spice up the journey I take a route suggested by…

Air quality monitoring – a view from the inside

Today as part of my survey on lichens as indicators of air quality we head out of the city to the foot of the Pentlands, well almost. Bush…

Coffee from Africa to Edinburgh and back again

  This week bags of coffee beans have been arriving by post in preparation for the Coffee with a Shot of Science event on 4 April, part of…

The journey begins

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…

Rosularia muratdaghensis

I recieved a request from a member of the Scottish Rock Garden Club from the Czech Republic interested in seeing an image of a plant we have growing…

The Rhododendron season 2015

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…

Watching – Plants & Sleep

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 Garden Wildlife Report

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….

Wildfood Sami Style

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…

A smudge of correction fluid

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…

George Forrest’s camera work

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,…

New Begonia from New Guinea

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…

The Letters of George Forrest

Pauline Maclean, an RBGE Volunteer, writes: “… By now you must be aware of the fact that I am no writer. As a practical worker I am a…

The plant hunt goes on, and it’s turned digital!

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…

Forrest’s Rhododendron Giant

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…

Finding minimally databased Forrest specimens

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,…

Fresh shoots for spring

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…

Figure in Victorian photograph identified as James McNab

It was difficult to spot there even was a figure in a Victorian photo of the RBGE Rock Garden which was transferred to the Archives last week, and…