Newsletter
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Blechnum brasiliense
This small tree fern is from South America. It is well worth looking at in the In the Kibble Palace just now. Turn left at the main dome, then right and you will find several beautiful examples. At present its fronds are uncurling showing off their beautiful red colour. Eventually as the fronds mature, they…
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A very rare conifer: the Vietnamese Golden Cypress
The Vietnamese Golden Cypress or Xanthocyparis vietnamensis can be found at What3Words riots.hoping.petal and looks rather un-preposessing. However, a glance at the accession label reveals that is is anything but. This is a rare and endangered conifer which was has been known to science only since 1999. The discovery of a living conifer that is so…
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2025 Curator update
Glasgow Botanic Gardens Curator Dr Hiro Shimao gives an update on the collection from 2025 including sugar palms, trees, memorial trees and orchids. This year (from January 2025), we have received more than 1000 species (including cultivars and hybrids) of seeds and plants from many botanical gardens and individuals.
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Chair’s report
Andrew Sinclair, manager of the Gardens, and the Friends were contacted some months ago by Professor Willsdon from School of Culture & Creative Arts at Glasgow University about the possibility of remembering a colleague Dr John Richards who had sadly passed away. John knew the Gardens well and lived close to the Arboretum which was…
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Storm damage to Nothofagus dombeyi
After the recent storm this fine southern hemisphere beech tree Nothofagus dombeyi lost several of its limbs. GCC arbor services attended promptly and it is hoped that the tree will be viable for the future. This evergreen beech is endemic to southern Chile and Patagonia where it is widespread favouring damp soil and thriving along…
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Chair’s report
What a wonderful autumn we have been enjoying up and down the country this year! Unfortunately and predictably the tranquil peace of your Gardens has been degraded yet again by the arrival of Glasglow. It is a show that would be more appropriate to being held in a show ground rather than in one of…
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The Argyle Street Ash: UK Tree of the Year 2025
Congratulations to those members of FGBG who voted for the Argyle Street ash tree which won the Woodland Trust UK Tree of the Year competition, announced on the BBC One show on 25 September. The ash tree won against impressive nationwide competition. David Treanor of Treewise, the Paisley based arborist who nominated the tree, has…
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Remembering Elspeth King
It is with shock and sadness that we heard of the sudden and unexpected death of Dr Elspeth King on 1st November 2025. Elspeth was one of the original members of our first cohort of garden guides in early 2023. She was a first class colleague who enthusiastically shared with us her detailed knowledge of…
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The Arboretum
‘Walking to be offered on prescription’ says the government. What better place to do it than the Arboretum? This area of the Botanics started to take shape in the 1970s, one hundred and thirty years after the inauguration of the Royal Botanic Gardens in the west end. Now where would we be without it? To…