By Isabelle Charmantier Ah, the snowflake: symbol of short winter days, crisp frosty mornings, Carol singing under the stars and the Christmas season. However, this is not a snowflake. It…Read More >
Advent Botany 2016 – Day 10: Hoop-petticoat daffodils
By Jordan Bilsborrow and Kálmán Könyves Daffodils are very popular garden plants and an important commercial crop both as bulbs and as cut flowers. Our fascination with these very charming…Read More >
Advent Botany 2016 – Day 9: Getting stuffed at Christmas – the Onion
By Rachel Webster Not much of a surprise here, but after covering sage yesterday we really had to say a few words about onions today. If you want to be growing your own,…Read More >
Advent Botany 2016 – Day 8: Getting stuffed at Christmas: Sage
By Rachel Webster There are many more gastronomically interesting options available at Christmas time, but I’m still always drawn to the reassuringly traditional sage and onion stuffing. Nowadays, in addition…Read More >
Advent Botany 2016 – Day 7: The Clove
To the microscopist, clove oil used to be one of the best smelling agents when preparing samples for permanent mounting on a glass slide. The corridor soon filled with the…Read More >
Advent Botany 2016 – Day 6: Yew know it’s Christmas
By Niki Simpson The traditional Christmas tree here in the UK is the Norway spruce, Picea abies, while Abies nordmanniana is increasingly sold as the expensive “non-drop” Nordmann fir. However,…Read More >
Advent Botany 2016 – Day 5: Pōhutukawa
In Europe and North America, our Christmas trees are usually conifers. However, the New Zealand Christmas tree is a member of the Myrtaceae (Myrtle and Eucalyptus family). It is an…Read More >
Advent Botany 2016 – Day 4: The Carrot
My dog’s got no nose. How does he smell? Awful. To prevent olfactory problems with snowmen the traditional nose of choice is the carrot. To most westerners, the carrot is…Read More >
#AdventBotany 2016 – Day 3: A sweet surprise!
By Fi Young Happy birthday to me, Happy birth… hold on just a minute this is the 25 days Advent Christmas Botanical Calendar, so why the birthday? My birthday does…Read More >
#AdventBotany 2016 – Day 2: How do you create a Candy Cane Chrysanthemum?
By Dawn Bazely Peppermint candy canes are the North American equivalent of traditional British seaside rock. They are ubiquitous during the holiday season in Canada and the USA, showing up everywhere…Read More >