Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has chosen Plantcontainershop.com to supply a specially made 1800 mm diameter container with a built in water reservoir and hidden castors for a large Ficus nitida tree. The Ficus nitida is a tropical or sub tropical evergreen species belonging to the family Moraceae (mulberry or fig family) and is common throughout many parts of the US, Asia and Australasia. They have been known to survive frosts but with foliage damage.

I remember seeing the Ficus trees growing in the street along Rodeo Drive in Beverley Hills, California. Just before you say "name dropper!" let me explain that I didn't dare go in to any of the shops there because there were no price tags on show! I recall that there were large scale (sap sucking) insects on the tree trunks and as the trees were so large, it would have been impossible to remove them all.

Many US citizens have a love/hate relationship with the Ficus nitida as they are known to have invasive roots and are a bit plain looking. They do, however, have lush foliage and a large canopy which is ideal for shade in the hotter regions. The roots could possibly be invasive due to watering habits. Lightly watering surrounding plants may encourage the Ficus roots to grow nearer the surface.

There is a bright yellow variety available: 'high noon' although I haven't seen it used in offices.

I have used ball top Ficus nitida in office plant displays and found that like the Ficus benjamina, they do really well in a bright position. They are easy to trim in to shape and last for many years. An office landscapers favourite type of plant!

The Edinburgh botanic garden was founded in 1670 at St. Anne's Yard, near Holyrood Palace, by Dr. Robert Sibbald and Dr. Andrew Balfour. It is the second oldest botanic garden in Britain after Oxford's. In 1763, the garden's collections were moved away from the city's pollution to a site on the road to Leith, and the garden moved to its present location at Inverleith in 1820. The Temperate Palm House, which remains the tallest in Britain to the present day, was built in 1858.
The botanic garden at Benmore became the first Regional Garden of the RBGE in 1929. It was followed by the gardens at Logan and Dawyck in 1969 and 1978.

A new visitor centre, the John Hope Gateway Visitor Centre is currently under construction. The Gateway will open to the public later this summer, offering visitor facilities, interpretation, an improved shop, a new restaurant as well as temporary and permanent exhibition spaces.