Good morning and welcome to SOS.
It is a working weekend this weekend and the Six Nations is still on so gardening opportunities will be limited no doubt. During the week I managed to do some tidying up in the garden and I planted a new Sedum trough (photo’s to follow).
On Tuesday I spent a rainy lunchtime at the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh. Although it was raining I had a thoroughly good 45 mins here (I only get 30 mins for lunch :)). You could notice most of the shrubs and trees were waking up after winter and most of them had an expectant glow. Some of the Rhododendron bushes were laden with flower buds. As always I made a Beeline for the Alpine Beds.
Here is this weeks six
1. Bamburgh Castle
The first picture is not of the Botanical Garden but of Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland. I had my lunch opposite here on Monday. Not only does this picture show I live in one of the most beautiful Counties in Britain but it shows how vibrant the green looked on the bank after up to the Castle after the snow had melted from the weekend.
2. Herbaceous Border
The Herbaceous Border at RBGE really is a site to behold. Obviously at this time of year it looks boring but in 10 weeks time this will be full of plants. One thing that makes me the is the quality of the compost at the Gardens is like Black Gold.
3. Tufa Wall
This specially built wall is made from limestone and is highly porous. Alpines thrive on this wall and at RGBE they have a wide variety of plants from all over the world. The wall is mostly covered with Saxifraga, Draba, Primulas and Dionysian. There is an inside part to the garden and an outside garden and even in he middle of winter there is always something to catch your eye.
4. Draba Longisiliqua
Draba also known as Whitlow Grass os a member of the Brassicaceae family. I think these plants are wonderful and a little bit out the ordinary. I think they need dry conditions so growing them in a garden is a no no. Plus J don’t think these plants are freely available.
5. Spring Bulbs
They have a wonderful collection of bulbs at the garden and they always deliver year after year.
6. Sempervivum Tectorum
It just would not be a blog written by me if I don’t have a succulent in it would it. I had to search fo a succulent when I was there but I eventually found one. I am sure you will agree the colours of this plant are stunning. For some reason there was hardly any Sedums?
That is this weeks SOS. I hope you have enjoyed it.
As always to find out how six on Saturday works please follow the following link The Propagator. The don of Six on Saturday
Sedums, Dahlias and Hayfever 
The Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh are wonderful. I spent so much time here as a child. My father loved the herbaceous border – he was a serious gardener.
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I was watching the detective series, Vera, last night and thought your coastline looked fabulous! (The rest of the programme was not as exciting but I think the attraction is a successful, bossy woman lead!) Anyway, we went on holiday near Bamburgh castle, birdwatching and golfing and found the whole area stunningly beautiful.
I like your “rock” plants photo, especially.
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Yes I am really lucky to live where I do. Bamburgh Castle still takes my breath away every time I drive past it and I lived here all my life.
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I’ll have to add the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh to my list of gardens to visit. The wall looks bit like a coral reef if you tilt your head sideways.
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No need to tilt they have a horizontal one outside but it was raining on Tuesday.
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Interesting Six as always. Our daughter as at Edinburgh University for five years so I dragged the N-G around the beautiful Botanic Gardens many times.
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They really are an asset to Edinburgh the BG. Wish I had found them earlier.
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Nice Six Paul. I discovered Bamburgh Castle through Twitter: a beautiful site to visit for sure!
That the best wins in rugby …
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Thanks Fred. Should be a good game.
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I used to love visiting the Botanic gardens when I was a student in Edinburgh, but thought I didn’t remember that huge castle 😉
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Yes you may have been view another wee Castle from there. I think you call the first post PsEudo fake newS
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My SOS was at Oxford Botanic Gardens and so I really enjoyed finding this. It looks a great place to spend 90 minutes.
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Oh you need more than 90 mins believe me!
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I will have to give Oxford Botanic Gardens a try next time I am in the area.
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Love the colours on that succulent, very showy!
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It certainly is….had to refrain myself from nicking one.
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You always have such interesting posts! I really enjoyed the Tufa Wall and the Draba plant, oh my! You won’t see that where I come from! I must add this Botanical Garden to my lists of must sees. I have a stupid question, but why do they bury the pots in the ground? They can’t be afraid of critters underground are they?
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I think they put half the pot in the gravel just for show.
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Our traditional-style Alpine House is exploding with spring colour right now! 🌱🌷🌹🌸🌼
The Alpine House provides a dry environment for plants more used to spending winter beneath a protective blanket of snow. All the plants are grown in clay pots and plunged into sand, keeping roots at a balanced cool temperature and level of moisture. A fan is used in the Alpine House to imitate the windy mountain conditions, and the plants are watered carefully to ensure no moisture reaches their foliage or flowers.
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The above is from thekr facebook page
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Well that makes a lot of sense to me. A lot of work for them, but very impressive! Thank you for sharing this with me!
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This is brilliant. Just last night I went to my local AGS branch meeting to hear a talk by John Mitchell the RBGE head of alpines. He showed pictures of the tufa wall and how they constructed it plus pictures of draba in the wild on his collecting exhibitions. So informative and I really want to visit! Thanks for sharing your fab pictures.
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Wow what a coincidence!
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I think I might have paused for even for than 90 minutes just amongst the bright bulb display! What a grand lunch break.
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Maples to the right in the first picture! and pampas grass in the second picture! This is very different from your typical themes.
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Really? I don’t think so Tony. Both plants were just in the photo and the posts were not about them.
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But they are cool nonetheless.
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Thanks
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Those bulbs are so cheerful! I rarely think of putting my spring bulbs in pots, but I like that look.
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Thanks they look fantastic don’t they.
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I’ve heard that Edinburgh has fantastic alpine but never seen any photos so thank you for sharing, must try to get there one day
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Yes or is a fantastic place…
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