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 >
Herbarium RNG
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 2015 – Christmas Day: The Christmas Cactus
By Alastair Culham My grandfather grew a huge Christmas cactus which flowered regularly every year. It spent the summers in a shady spot in the garden and the winters indoors…Read More >
Advent Botany 2015 – Day 24: King Protea
By Robbie Blackhall-Miles Every year in preparation for Christmas a king from a distant land honours me with its presence. The king of which I speak is a Protea cynaroides, the…Read More >
Advent Botany 2015 – Day 23: Night of the Radishes
By Emma Cooper When you think about Christmas plants you probably think about holly and ivy, possibly Christmas trees and poinsettias, and maybe even Brussels sprouts and parsnips. But I…Read More >
Advent Botany 2015 – Day 22: Healing Christmas: Cinnamon
By Macarena Cárdenas Think of the smell and taste of Christmas and Cinnamon may come to your mind, the sweet essence of mulled wine, or in the warmth of the…Read More >
Advent Botany 2015 – Day 21: Winter mint
By Jeanne Osnas and Katherine Preston (Botanists in the Kitchen) @BitKBlog The candy cane, that red- and white-striped hard candy imbued with peppermint oil, is a signature confection of the…Read More >