by Admin | Jan 26, 2016 | Blog
The Olive Grove already contains some plants which are native to open ground along the Mediterranean coast and we are looking to expand the range of species. One group of plants which are particularly characteristic are the Ophrys group of orchids which are very much...
by Admin | Jan 9, 2016 | Blog
A look at the remarkable weather for December 2015 from Chris Watts, VBG’s weather recorder Here is a quick assessment of the extraordinary weather we experienced in December. The mean temperature,11.9C, was up by 5.4C over the 1921-50 average for the Hospital....
by Admin | Sep 30, 2015 | Blog
Having the Insula exhibition at VBG by Perdita Sinclair led to thoughts about seed dispersal by sea. Of all the strategies evolved by flowering plants to disperse their seed, the method with potential to spread furthest yet most treacherously, must be by sea. The...
by Admin | May 14, 2015 | Blog
Plant Profile Echium pininana When composing Blogs on plants at VBG it’s often easy to overlook the obvious through familiarity. Perhaps a plant for which this botanic garden is rightly famed is one that we don’t tend, plant, propagate or molly coddle. It has grown,...
by Admin | Dec 8, 2014 | Blog
A Garden in the Houses of Parliament In the August Blog I wrote about an award winning garden we put up at Gardener’s World Live at the Birmingham NEC, in conjunction with Visit Isle of Wight Ltd, the destination management company who promote the island to the...
by Admin | Oct 7, 2014 | Blog
The Canna Bank at VBG is so named because it became where we grew the riot of colour possible from the species and cultivars of Canna. Canna are well established in English gardens, they are usually treated as half hardy prennials that need to be lifted (and divided)...
