Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Heads Up: 32 events to catch this Christmas & Hogmanay - The Skinny Our pick of the markets, light shows, screenings, pantomimes, clubs and gigs across Scotland that are sure to bring you cheer this festive season.

It's that ti-

*Don't say it...*

It's beginning to look a lot like Chri-

*Like what?*

WE'VEGOTANXMASGUIDEOUTNEXTWEEKHERE'STHEEVENTSGUIDE [dodges hail of mince pies]

www.theskinny.co.uk/things-to-do... [ft @trontheatre.bsky.social @thebotanics.bsky.social @lyceumedinburgh.bsky.social + more]

Section of a leather boot with various types of lichen on its surface.

One of the more unusual items in our herbarium collection! This old leather boot is home to several types of lichen 🥾

It was collected on a beach in 1975 by Brian J Coppins in Ballantrae, Scotland.

Read more on the weird and wonderful specimen here: stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/40742

During our final networking session Gregory Kenicer, botanist from @thebotanics.bsky.social, told us about the food we've been eating today and highlighted the community kitchen garden which supplies 1 1/2 tonnes of produce for the garden's cafes.

#FoodSecurity25

New #GBRedList for vascular plants is published today by a team led by @bsbibotany.bsky.social with partners @naturalengland.bsky.social @ukceh.bsky.social @naturescot.bsky.social @natreswales.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social @plantlifeintl.bsky.social @rbgkew.bsky.social @thebotanics.bsky.social

Botanical illustration of the black bat flower (Tacca chantrieri) by Billy Showell.

Botanical illustration of the black bat flower (Tacca chantrieri) by Eve Reid Bennett.

Botanical illustration of a bat by Mungo Park.

Botanical illustration of a devil's pumpkin in a copy of an illustration from Cavanille’s “Monadelphiae classis dissertationes decem. Diss. 10: De Passiflora”.

Celebrating spooky season with botanical art 🎨 🎃

- The black bat flower (Tacca chantrieri) by Billy Showell, and Eve Reid Bennett (1932-2006) who taught botanical illustration at the Garden for many years.
- Bat by Mungo Park (1771-1806)
- Devil's pumpkin by an unknown artist

Real pleasure to be invited to speak at the British Pteridological Society meeting today.
Brilliant mix of talks spanning evolution, conservation and botanical collections.
And always great to have a tour of the wonderful @thebotanics.bsky.social collections! 🌿

Evaluation Lead – Learning & Engagement @thebotanics.bsky.social is seeking an experienced evaluator to consolidate existing data, identify gaps, and collaborate with their teams to build clear, user-friendly systems for future evaluation tinyurl.com/376tyas5 £45,712 pro-rata Edinburgh #charityjob

Person wearing purple gloves handles a fungarium specimen

Could fungi help us tackle plastic pollution, protect crops, and discover life-saving medicines? 🍄🧬

New Scientist has just spotlighted Kew’s cutting-edge fungal research - from unravelling DNA in our world-leading Fungarium to finding fungi that can digest plastic and fight disease 🧵👇

Huge news from the Edinburgh Journal of Botany - its entire archive is now freely available online! 🥳

This moment has been years in the making. Explore more than a century's worth of scientific research 👇

Marking 125 years of #EJBotany #OpenAccess and its forerunner, Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, we are delighted to announce that ALL content is now freely available at journals.rbge.org.uk/notes and journals.rbge.org.uk/ejb

Early career fellowships in cultural and heritage institutions: 2025 Apply for funding to conduct research at participating cultural and heritage institutions.

🌿 Fellowship opportunity: the AHRC Early career fellowships in cultural and heritage institutions are open!

From connections between biodiversity and social inclusion, to cultural contexts of plants in our collections, find our priorities and how to apply here 👇 www.ukri.org/opportunity/...

Wonderful fungi photos, David! Hope you had a great visit 🍄🌿

Clustered Bonnets (Mycena inclinata) on fallen trunk. Found today in the Cryptogamic Sanctuary area of Dawyck Botanic Gardens, near Peebles. #Fungi #Mushrooms #Nature #Photography #Nikon @thebotanics.bsky.social

Clustered Bonnets (Mycena inclinata) on fallen trunk in the Cryptogamic Sanctuary area of Dawyck Botanic Gardens, near Peebles. #Fungi #Mushrooms #Nature #Photography #Nikon #Dawyck @thebotanics.bsky.social

Portrait of Dr Julia Knights surrounded by green foliage, and a waterfall in the background, at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

We're pleased to announce that Dr Julia Knights has been appointed as the 17th Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and will be joining us in January.

Julia will succeed Simon Milne MBE, who will retire after more than a decade of visionary leadership. More: rbge.cc/regius-keeper

Lichen subscribe for more!

Early career fellowships in cultural and heritage institutions – new fellowship opportunities • V&A Blog We are delighted to announce a second round of funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for the Early Career Research Fellowships in Cultural and Heritage Institutions opportunity....

Fabulous opportunity to apply for a 2 year research fellowship with @ukri.org and @thebotanics.bsky.social. Come along to a townhall meeting to find out more www.vam.ac.uk/blog/project...

Vacancies | Working Here | What We Do

🌲🌲🌲 An exciting opportunity to work on #conifer #conservation research at RBGE @thebotanics.bsky.social: www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/job... #conservationjobs #botany #redlist #ICCP🌲🌲🌲

View of Scottish mountains with lichen covered rocks in the foreground.

Close up of lichen.

🌿 Rare opportunity! We’re partnering with the National Trust for Scotland to offer a paid, two-year traineeship in lichenology.

Applications are open now. Find full details and apply by Friday 3 October: www.asva.co.uk/jobs/trainee...

@n-t-s.bsky.social

Beautiful! Thank you for visiting and sharing, Andrew 🌲🌳

Stately old trees this week at Benmore Botanic Garden @thebotanics.bsky.social

Windblown was just incredible, wasn't it? A beautiful tribute to the Sabal Palm 🌴

More than £10.6 million has been raised since 2021, including over £9 million from the The National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Julia Rausing Trust, Villum Fonden, part of the VELUX foundations, Wolfson Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation and Historic Environment Scotland. Thank you.

This major feat would not have been possible without the incredible support from major charitable organisations and thousands of individual donors.

We’re grateful to our major funders and everyone who has helped us reach this pivotal moment. Thank you for helping to save the Palm Houses 💚

Exterior view of the newly restored Palm Houses at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Close up of the interior ironwork of the restored Palm Houses at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Close up on the sandstone exterior of the restored Palm Houses at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, with large arched windows.

Close up of the domed glassed ceiling of the restored Palm Houses at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

🌴 Our iconic Palm Houses are entering a new chapter.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look now the huge project is nearing competition.

Our Garden teams will soon start landscaping and replanting more than 600 botanical specimens before we re-open the doors in 2026 🥳

Beautiful Benmore! Thanks so much for visiting and sharing, Peter 🌿

Long-time fan of @thebotanics.bsky.social Edinburgh, so delighted to get to its outpost at Benmore. Curation top-notch, along with commitment to education and the arts. Loved the cultural/botanical counterpoint of whole Highland ridges devoted to Chile and Tasmania.

an image from the publication

A new paper by @petermoonlight.bsky.social published in #EJBotany #OpenAccess @thebotanics.bsky.social on the names in the genus #Begonia published in Vellozo’s #FloraFluminensis: rbge.cc/47Q6wmL

📢 We're hiring!

We're looking for a dedicated ICCP Researcher / Red Listing Co-ordinator to take a leading role in our renowned International Conifer Conservation Programme 🌲

Apply by midday on Friday 26 September: rbge.cc/jobs

Herbaceous border at the botanic gardens

Rudbeckia spp.

Crocosmia spp.

The #herbaceousborder @thebotanics.bsky.social is still looking splendid just now - 165m long, designed in 1902 by the Regius Keeper Isaac Bailey Balfour and a rainbow spectrum of colour and structure.

#botanicgardens #RBGE #Edinburgh #visitscotland #summercolour #perennialplants

Thank you Keith, we really appreciate your kind words! 🌿

What are your favourite plants or parts of the Garden at this time of year?