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This summer we’ll be investigating the wild relatives of some of our most familiar vegetables with our ‘Really Wild Vegetable’ trial (as part of the Talking Science Project). All crops have…
Last year, from its beginning until the end of April 2012, I had recorded the following numbers of insect species and other invertebrates in RBGE: 3 butterflies; 13…
Today I saw a small solitary bee visiting flowers of Woodsorrel Oxalis acetosella in the Scottish Heath Garden. It had a very reddish brown furry thorax and rather…
A total of 41 different bird species was recorded in, or flying over, the Botanics during April 2012. These included the year’s first migrants, as I’ve mentioned in…
Resilience noun [mass noun] 1 the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity 2 the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness [Oxford…
A single Pine Ladybird, Exochomus quadripustulatus, was seen today on the bark of one of the beech trees at the top of Stove Brae. This is one of the…
For The Year of Natural Scotland, RBGE has launched the search for Scotland’s favourite native plant So what might the winner be? The Scots pine? The Scottish primrose? …
Slowly but surely bees are beginning to buzz in the Botanics this slow, late spring. As more flowers come into bloom more bees, and more bee species, emerge….
The Himalayan Garden (@The_Hutts) tweeted this great picture of two RBGE staff on a Rhododendron tour run by David Chamberlain. ‘the brothers hairy’ Chris Coatham and David Tricker…
A Greater Bee-fly, Bombylius major, was spotted in the Copse yesterday and again today, visiting the mass of Pulmonaria ‘Munstead Blue’ near the entrance opposite the path to…
The Garden seemed full of spring migrants this morning! I heard at least three, possibly four, different Willow Warblers around the Chinese Hillside and Pond areas. A Chiffchaff…
Identifying traits that make organisms prone to extinction is an important question in conservation biology. Studies thus far have focused on extinction risks in vertebrates, but we know…
The mature specimens of Maytenus boaria seen in the garden are laden with flower buds. As these open the four yellow anthers are prominently displayed proud of the…
The Edible Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh is carefully tended by a team of dedicated volunteers. In reward for their endeavours the volunteers are able to…
A Willow Warbler was heard singing from bushes on the Chinese Hillside this morning (15 April) – the first spring migrant bird to arrive in RBGE this year!…
Pupils finally had a chance to work on their plots this week due to better weather. We prepared our plots by first weeding them using hand tools and…
It’s a confusing world out there – betaine, DMSO, bovine serum albumin (BSA), trehalose, glycerol, formamide – the list of things that you can throw into a PCR…
Growing fruit and vegetables is an immensely rewarding and popular activity. The average waiting time for an allotment in Edinburgh is 4 ½ years with some people waiting…
On the first weekend in April fern enthusiasts had a meeting in Edinburgh. Members of the British Pteridological Society (Fern Society) heard horticulturalist Andrew Ensoll describe an official…
With leaves unfurling and flower buds poised to burst Viburnum buddlejifolium is an open growing wide spreading semi evergreen shrub native to Central China. In its present stage…