Victoria at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Victoria at the
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Behind The Scenes

by Pat Clifford, Senior Horticulturist - Click images to enlarge

We removed this plant in the middle of December 2004, which was quite extraordinary considering we had no supplementary lighting. This is the longest they have survived as we would normally be removing them the beginning of October.

This is the pond drained down in early March which allows us to re-soil the Victoria tubs.

Pat Clifford

We usually go in to tidy up the Victorias a minimum of twice a week.

On this day, we took out six fully grown leaves to allow some room for the newer leaves to develop. >

Alistair Paxton

< We used to have problems with aphids but now we use a biological control.

It is a predatory midge called Aphidoletes aphidomyza whose larvae feed on aphids. It is 100% effective. >

I have an understandably pained expression feeding Victoria with my home-made fertiliser balls, which I have to push right under the roots.

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Page 5 - "Chop and Drop"

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