Gardens
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Magnificent Magnolia
The gardens are full of wonderful Magnolia blossoms just now. Magnolias are named in honour of the French botanist Pierre Magnol, professor of botany at Montpellier University in the late 17th century. He was the first person to suggest that plants with similar characters could be grouped together into families. Magnolias are native to China…
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Plant markers
For my university project, I was tasked with implementing type into a spatial environment. I chose to explore the Botanic Gardens and responded to the brief by creating a series of plant markers. I took inspiration from the history of the botanic gardens, specifically kibble palace, with its roots in Victorian Britain. I looked into…
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Peace garden poetry
Students from North Kelvinside school wrote some beautiful poetry to celebrate the opening of our peace garden last summer. Thank you to all the young poets for their beautiful words and ideas. Peace poem by Lucian & Victoria When the Spring flowers bloom The calm wind blows The sun shines down and I find my…
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Birdsong and wildlife walk
As we have come to expect, Alexandra delivered another brilliant tour! Even the weather was kind to us and although cold, it was a still, sunny morning when we set off at 09:30. Alexandra explained that we would be listening for three different types of song from the birds, a general song, a song communicating…
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Exclusive tour with our orchid propagator
The Glasgow Botanic Gardens is renowned for its collection of dendrobium orchids and a group of Friends were fortunate enough to be given a guided tour of the orchid collection by Christine Nicholson. Christine is the head of orchid propagation and she was able to give us a glimpse into the magical world of orchids…
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Kelvin at the Kibble 2026
Visit us and all our wonderful community groups exhibiting at Kelvin at the Kibble 7-20th April.
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Flint Mill Preservation
Last year, the Friends of Glasgow Botanics were successful in supporting Glasgow City Council gain Scheduled Monuments Consent to carry out physical works to consolidate and repair the remains of the former North Woodside Flint Mill Lade on the River Kelvin. The Friends contributed £3k to meet the costs of initial assessments which in turn…
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Book review: Richard Fortey’s Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind
Richard Fortey shares two of my particular passions, geology and fungi, however he does so at a level I can only dream about. He also manages to write about these often bewildering subjects in a way that both delights, informs and entertains. This whirlwind tour of fungi is no exception and his knowledge and passion…
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Pinguicula brendae: a new carnivorous plant species from Mexico
Ernesto and Agustina in Mexico, and I described a newbutterwort species, Pinguicula brendae (Lentibulariaceae),from the State of Hidalgo, Mexico. It was officially published on the 8 of February 2026 in the Nordic Journal of Botany. About 100 butterwort species are found on all continentsexcept Australia and Antarctica, and two of them aredistributed in the UK.…
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CPH Spring 2026 – Cancellation
A note to students who were admitted onto the Certificate of Practical Horticulture course scheduled for March-June 2026: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Trustees of Friends of Glasgow Botanic Gardens have reluctantly taken the decision to cancel the forthcoming CPH course commencing on Saturday 21st March. The Trustees of FGBG would like to offer their…