Sibbaldia - the Journal of Botanic Garden Horticulture (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Journals)
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The Oman Botanic Garden (1): The Vision, Early Plant Collections and Propagation
Get PDFThe Oman Botanic Garden (OBG) is a new botanic garden which is being constructed on a 423ha site near to Muscat, the capital of Oman. Oman is floristically rich and is considered a centre of plant diversity in the Arabian Peninsula. The plan is that OBG will showcase this plant diversity, inform visitors of its value and provide a model for sustainability. This paper, part 1, covers the vision, early plant collections and propagation, and part 2, which will be included in Sibbaldia No. 7, will cover design, construction, interpretation and planting
A Role for Lichens in Botanic Gardens?
Get PDFLichens are biologically diverse and ecologically important. They infuse a botanic garden with character, and are sensitive indicators for the health of our environment. Their continued recolonization of botanic gardens should be celebrated, yet is frequently greeted with trepidation. Acknowledging the under-played significance of lichens and other cryptogams, PlantNetwork organized a conference on Mosses, Ferns and Lichens in Gardens (September 2007). This article summarizes a talk presented at the PlantNetwork conference. It discusses the role of lichens in botanic gardens, and also includes general themes (aesthetics, monitoring and education) which may be applied across other cryptogam groups, for example mosses, liverworts, ferns and non-lichenized fungi
Pineapple Growing :: Its Historical Development and the Cultivation of the Victorian Pineapple Pit at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall
Get PDFPineapples are a tropical food crop, yet from the late 1600s onwards, they were grown extensively in the northerly latitudes of Europe. The race to produce the first fruit in Europe was won by the Dutch in 1685 but the production of the first British fruits between 1714 and 1716 triggered a mania for growing them and the horticultural developments that this stimulated are described. The advent of hot water heating from 1816 revolutionized pineapple growing and in the Victorian era the production of well-grown pineapples became the crucial challenge that every gardener worth his salt had to master so that fruits could be entered in the prestigious horticultural shows. The Victorian pineapple pit at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, which was restored in 1994, recalls 19th century pineapple growing. A description and evaluation of the cultivation of the pit using traditional Victorian methods, but lacking certain crucial facilities such as tanner’s bark and supplementary heating, is given
Rapid-Survey Methods for Flowering Phenology
Get PDFThe Weekly Phenology Project at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has been running for three and a half years at the time of writing. Insufficient data have been collected so far for scientific analysis, but we present provisional conclusions concerning several methods of monitoring flowering behaviour. These range from objective methods, such as presence/absence of open flowers and counts of flowers or inflorescences, to non-objective methods involving assessment of the degree to which full flowering has been achieved. One monitoring method, relying on the relative numbers of flowers in the three states ‘bud’, ‘open’, and ‘gone-over’, is illustrated by the flowering behaviour of ‘simultaneously’ and ‘sequentially’ flowering species. We conclude with a discussion of the relative values of the different methods
The Sarracenia Pitcher Plants and Bog Gardening
Get PDFThe Sarracenia pitcher plants are among the world’s most beautiful and intriguing plants, and being carnivorous adds an extra dimension of fascination. They are endemic to North America – 10 species are found only in the southeastern United States and one species is widely distributed, from the northeastern US and across Canada. They are easy to cultivate if you understand their basic needs and are grown the world over. Every botanical garden should have them because they are so popular with the public. They go hand-in-hand with other unusual carnivorous plants to make a display that is captivating (puns intended!) to both children and adults. This paper covers types of pitcher plants, their habitats, brief descriptions of the species, a key to identification, cultivation and a short note on conservation
Preliminary Observations on Fruit Handling, Seed Germination and Chloroplast Inheritance of an Amenotaxus Hybrid Arising at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh from A. argotaenia (F) x A. formosana (M)
Get PDFSeed quality of Amentotaxus species is generally considered to be poor. This paper describes some general observations on the collection, processing and germination of seeds of an Amentotaxus hybrid (A. argotaenia [F] 3x A. formosana [M]) that originated at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 2005. It also includes the details of five different methods for incubating/culturing the hybrid seeds – three of these methods resulted in almost 100% germination. DNA analysis confirmed the hybrid origin of the seeds and in common with many conifers, chloroplast inheritance was shown to be via the paternal side
Cultivation and Hardiness Notes for Blechnum cycadifolium
Get PDFBlechnum cycadifolium is an evergreen fern from the Juan Fenandez islands. This paper starts by describing its collection, propagation and cultivation and then considers its hardiness. Three planting areas are described, followed by notes about how the plants overwintered in these areas
Flowering and Climate Change: Part II
Get PDFAnalysis of data from other studies of flowering and leafing phenology suggests that temperature and photoperiod can influence first-flowering date at up to nine developmental stages prior to flowering. On the assumption that not all species will be affected by environmental conditions at the same stages, it is predicted that there will be different groups of plants that can be expected to react in different ways to climate change. A provisional description is given of a group with ‘mediterranean-type’ phenology and extended flowering periods, which is expected to show extreme reaction of first-flowering date to climate change (warming winters). A second and related group is described without the extended flowering period
Plant Collecting for the Ecological Garden and the Scottish Heath Garden at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Get PDFThe Ecological and Heath Gardens at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh were created in 1991 and 1997 respectively. The Ecological Garden started as a naturalistic area of native woodland plants where cryptogams were encouraged to grow. Building on its success other habitat types were created nearby. The Heath Garden replaced an older heather garden and sought to recreate the ‘feel’ of a Scottish upland heathland. In recent years additional wild origin material of conservation concern has been added to each Garden and this paper describes the process along with some of the plants selected