FINDING JEAN, FINDING FLORA
Hayden Lorimer teaches cultural geography and environmental humanities at University of Edinburgh. His research explores connections between landscape, memory and the geographical imagination. He is...
View ArticleOne in a milestone
Saxifraga hirculus in bloom at natural population within Caithness. (photo: B.Drew, 2023) This is it, the last planting for our project. I feel a mix of pride and sadness bittersweet, really, as we...
View ArticleResurrecting the Fern; Looking Back At Our Woodsia Translocations
Translocations are, by their very nature, complex and demanding undertakings – something our team knows all too well. Challenges such as logistics, limited time, unpredictable weather, difficult...
View ArticleFour Weeks, Three Species, One Mission: A Riparian Rescue
In the months of October and November 2025, the NRF Scottish Plant Recovery team carried out a series of translocations which challenged us logistically, mentally and physically and which required a...
View ArticleViral or Cultural? A Mini Experimental Trial on Polygonatum Verticillatum
The NRF (Nature Restoration Fund) Scottish Plant Recovery Project at RBGE aims to restore genetically diverse populations of our endangered Scottish native plants around the country. Whilst rewarding,...
View ArticleUnearthing the secrets of the One-flowered Wintergreen
By Jennifer Baker, a conservation horticulturalist from the Scottish Native Plant Recovery Team. Fascinated by the complex life cycle of the One-flowered Wintergreen, Jennifer set up a three-year...
View ArticleMarking a Month: My Scottish Natives experience so far…
A younger me taking a selfie at RBGE Weeding woodsia. (Photo by Iain Stewart from Leaves by Studies in Photography). RBGE has been a place that I have visited since I was little, with my parents, with...
View ArticlePartners giving elm and apple a better future
March and April saw the completion of a marathon planting exercise by the Scottish Plant Recovery team to give a helping hand to two threatened native tree species – wych elm (Ulmus glabra) and wild...
View ArticleRestoring a fern wiped out by collectors and botanists
Oblong woodsia (Woodsia ilvensis), a small, rare mountain fern, was virtually wiped out in the Moffat Hills by commercial collectors responding to the Victorian craze for ferns – pteridomania – that...
View ArticlePeople making a difference
March and April saw the completion of a marathon planting exercise by the Scottish Plant Recovery team to give a helping hand to two threatened native tree species – wych elm (Ulmus glabra) and crab...
View ArticleWilding Garden trials – small cow-wheat
The Garden is now being used as a test bed to explore some of the challenges and unanswered questions involved in returning threatened Scottish plants to wild sites. The focus of this activity is in...
View ArticleWeeding moss
Weeding moss might sound like the endless battle that some people engage in to maintain their lawns and block paving in immaculate condition. Today I stumbled across a literal example of weeding moss...
View ArticleA second chance
Trees in general, and wych elms (Ulmus glabra) in particular, are being given a second chance in the dramatic landscape of Assynt. Land owned by both the community and environmental charities now...
View ArticleA homecoming in the Borders
My visit to assess the potential for wych elm (Ulmus glabra) planting on land owned by the Borders Forest Trust will pave the way for a homecoming of sorts for the elms in the next month or so. The 12...
View ArticleRestoring nature at Balmoral
As its winding course runs past Balmoral Castle the River Dee is flanked by a mix of farmland and woodland. Much of the woodland is composed of majestic old Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) growing...
View ArticleRestoring salmon elms in Caithness
‘It’s not necessarily about fishing, just knowing the salmon are there is what matters’, explains Anson Macauslan, estate manager at Braemore & Langwell Estate, as he drives me upstream along the...
View ArticleElm in its place
A story that is told in pictures alone is somehow very satisfying. Nobody needs to be a wordsmith to get the message across. When Chris Puddephatt sent me his latest images of Assynt’s elms I saw a...
View ArticleTranslocating resilience
Assisting the migration of plants is something that has already been carried out in a limited way to help them respond to climate change. The concern is that some plants are either unable to migrate...
View ArticleScottish Plant Recovery updates
Monthly updates on the progress being made to restore the fortunes of some Scotland’s most threatened plants are now available online. The updates, produced by the Garden’s Scottish Plant Recovery...
View ArticleNo more sow-thistle blues
During summer 2024 a small group of staff from the Garden’s Scottish Plant Recovery team, NatureScot and National Trust for Scotland achieved something which would have been unimaginable ten years...
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