Tuesday 13 May 2014

The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh


Banana flower
 This is pretty late, but for my birthday in February we visited The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.  Though it was generally soggy and not greatly flourishing outdoors, they have 10 glasshouses with individually controlled temperature environments, so they can grow a broad variety of plants at any time of the year.  These are a select few of the 1000s of photos I took on the trip!

The gorgeous glasshouse in the winter sun (and captured hubby standing admiring it too!)

Inside the glasshouse there were all sorts of different areas.  I have to say I loved the tropical ones the most for their range of colours!

Those green bits = bananas!

Cocoa pods

A maturing pineapple

Sorry - camera a little steamed up!
There were so many gorgeous flowers!



No idea what this is, but it looks very alien!!





There was even a range of fascinating and unusual leaves





Odd leaves didn't look like a real plant at first, but they are!






In the cactus and succulents glasshouse


There was even a Robin in there!



 Outside crocuses were one of the few plants growing happily outdoors on February 26th, literally coating the ground!
Crocuses

So much detail in tiny crocuses
 The rhododendrons were also out in a range of buds and full flowers.  

Rhododendron 
You're allowed to take photos as long as you don't sell them (I think you can sell them but you need permission).  I'll certainly be getting some of these beautiful plants made up as prints for my own wall though!!

If you're ever in Edinburgh, drop by the Gardens - outside is free entry, and the Glasshouse is a bargain £5 per person to the whole thing.  As you can see, even during Winter there's plenty to see, so its worth going at any time of the year.  There's also student gardens and vegetable patches to visit, though these were pretty quiet in February.

8 comments:

  1. I looked at the first banana flower and thought Wow and then the beautiful photos kept coming.

    I want some acrylic prints for some of my photos bit can't decide who to go to, Some are far more expensive that others so are they much better - decisions!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I do get quite into my photography when I have an interesting subject, and I really wasn't short of those!

      The main 2 online ones I know of are http://www.snapfish.co.uk/ and http://www.vistaprint.co.uk/. Typically I find snapfish is cheaper, but vistaprint often has deals (if you sign up for emails) ranging from 10% - 70% off. If you have photos on your mobile phone use the FreePrints app (its icon like a blue and green butterfly) - you just pay postage and their quality is surprisingly good. 6x4s are free and you do have to pay more for larger prints, but I don't think its that much.

      Delete
    2. In fact I just had a look and Snapfish currently had 50% off on canvas prints if you order by the 18th!

      Delete
  2. Great photos, showing a wonderful range of colours, textures and shapes! Even better since it was in February when most thigs are grey and lifeless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mark! I love a good bit of bright colours so it was truly a feast for the eyes. I think because we had such a mild winter too things like the crocuses and rhododendrons hadn't been at all damaged by frost and were gorgeous outside too.

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  3. What can I say... both photos and plants are absolutely stunning!

    ReplyDelete
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