Search results: "stories from the biomes "Page 8 of 26

First records of British plants – three Indian connections

Henry Noltie In pursuit of interesting facts for some captions I was recently asked to write I turned to David Pearman’s fascinating account of the first records of British plants…

A diversity of forms….. but how do you tell them apart?

To understand giant panda diet you need to understand bamboos and there are many types of bamboos in their habitat. Giant pandas seems to know which is best to eat…

Field Notes from a Hidden City

Ester Woolfson (Photo Ross Johnston/ Newsline Media) Among the stellar line-up of nature writers speaking at the Connect With Nature festival at the RBGE this weekend we have Esther Woolfson…

The beauty of Paris

Paris japonica Paris incompleta…

Native Trees Trail: Ash

the wildlife which is supported by ash. You can read more on Ash Dieback and the work being done at RBGE here: http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/2051 http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/2760 http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/3325 http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/3843 http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/4013   Native Trees…

Villa Farnese

Villa Farnese is an interesting example of an Italian styled garden which varies significantly from British ideas of gardening. RBGE has a wide collection of plants, plant labels and flowers,…

March 2018 Garden Wildlife Report

Dotted Border moth (Agriopis marginaria), 9 March 2018. New Garden record. Photo Lucy Cooke. In many ways the weather of March 2018 was the reverse of February. A common factor…

Three white flowers to cheer us into midsummer week

A member of the Iris family, Iridaceae, Diplarrena latifolia has individual flowers of interesting shape composed of six tepals. The three largest pure white, the smaller tepals have distinctive purple…

How much liverwort do you need to get 50 μg of DNA?

There’s an exciting project, The 10KP (10,000 Plants) Genome Sequencing Project, that aims to sequence and characterize representative genomes from every major clade of embryophytes, green algae, and protists (except…

Review of the year 2017

January 1st 2017 arrived with a light overnight frost and bright sunshine. The mild weather continued and with it the fragrance from the open flowers of Sarcococca, Hamamelis and Viburnum…

The (Western) discoverer of the rouloul bird: Dr James Badenach of Whiteriggs (1744–1797)

H.J. Noltie Introduction While researching the life of John Hope a decade ago I went through the RBGE copies of his personal papers that have fortunately survived in the National…

Plant an evergreen

Mid-March and the worst of the winter weather should be behind us. Now is an ideal time to plant an evergreen as the desiccating cold winds that are detrimental to…

The Importance of Rain Gardens in a Changing Climate

In the past few years at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) we have experienced changing weather patterns that reflect how climate change will affect Scotland in the future. On…

A road block

Well established and generally slug resistant this brute of a Hosta is the ideal plant to act as a division or barrier within the garden. Hosta sieboldiana grows leaves with…

The first steps towards the Flora of Myanmar

Ye Khe Sap camp on the route to Hponganrazi summit, looking northeast over the valley. Photo taken by Kate Armstrong The flora of Myanmar is very diverse, in large parts…

The Sweet Chestnut project (The Afterlife of a Tree)

Building on the biodiversity the garden supports Regular visitors to the garden will have noticed a mature Sweet Chestnut in the later stages of its life with only a slim…

Villa Lante

Villa Lante is one of the finest examples of a renaissance garden in Italy. The garden exhibits the aspects we expect from these flamboyant displays of grandeur: geometric, formulaic, and…

An expedition to the Cairngorms to rescue the rare and endangered Alpine Sow-thistle

Stand of C. alpina swaying in the wind. They are tall and striking on their own and can bloom until early September. Cicerbita alpina, colloquially named Alpine Sow-thistle is a…

Destined for the bucket

Easily introduced to the garden when lifting and dividing Snowdrops from another area; Allium paradoxum is an invasive coloniser of cultivated ground. This form of wild garlic has a mild…

Christmas Island and other ventures – legacy of RBGE gardener David Reid Tait

David Reid Tait (left) on Christmas Island When I was contacted by Dr Bill Lynch in August 2018 with a query about a former RBGE gardener called David R. Tait…