For me, the glace cherry is a staple ingredient of Christmas cooking. I include them in both my Christmas cake and Christmas pudding recipes – both are based on ‘Delia…Read More >
#AdventBotany Christmas Day: A rose with no thorns; eyes without sight
By Alastair Culham This is the 100th #AdventBotany blog and the fourth for Christmas day. The first Christmas blog featured the Star of Bethlehem, the second, Christmas Cactus, and the…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 24: Juniperus communis – the most delicious of the Cupressaceae
By Meg Cathcart-James Juniperus communis is the most widespread of the juniper species. Juniperus is within the conifer family Cupressaceae. Whether as a small evergreen tree or a shrub, it…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 23: Rosemary, love and controversy
By Alastair Culham Rosemary makes a tasty addition to many savoury dishes. My favourite is a rub of salt and crushed fresh rosemary leaves put on potatoes before roasting but…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 22: Put a cork in it
By Ali Ayres It’s decided, 2017 is the year I finally contribute to this fine festive botanical blogging tradition. But what should I write about? Holly? Ivy? All the usual…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 21: The qulliq brings light and heat to Canada’s Inuit Nunangat in the dark winter
By Dawn Bazely Christmas day at the North Pole is dark. In Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homelands of Canada, the Arctic Circle (66.6 degrees), marks the latitude where the noon…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 20: Holly
By Patricia Francis The Winter Solstice has been celebrated in many cultures for thousands of years. In our northern latitudes evergreens show how life continues even in the depths of…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 19: Christmas Kalanchoe – Kalanchoe blossfeldiana
By Will Simpson The genus Kalanchoe (the preferred pronunciation is kal-un-KOH-ee(1)) belongs to the Crassulaceae family. Like other members of this family, such as Aeonium, Crassula, Echeveria and Sedum, Kalanchoes…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 18: Cyclamen persicum: a Christmas misnomer?
By Karen Andrews They say that you should never judge a book by its cover. Walter C. Blasdale’s ‘Cyclamen persicum: Its Natural and Cultivated Forms’ is an unassuming, concise volume…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 17: A tough nut to crack!
By Alastair Culham Filling your lap with the sharp fragments of nut shells as you work through a bowl of shell-on nuts is one of the pleasures of Christmas. Less…Read More >