#StevesLibrary: Gathering Moss – A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
Regular readers of the blog will know that I am doing my best to try to combat plant-blindness. I’ve been visiting more botanical gardens and purchased some books on the topic of plant conservation. One of these is Robin Wall…
#SciFri: What can you expect at the Bonn University Botanical Garden?
As you may have seen from my previous blog on the Museum Koenig Bonn, I was in Germany in September. Another of the places I visited whilst I was there is the Bonn University Botanic Garden. From the moment you…
#SciFri: The history of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris
The Jardin des Plantes is one of Paris’s most enduring and intellectually significant institutions. Situated on the Left Bank of the Seine in the 5th arrondissement, it is far more than a botanical garden. Over nearly four centuries, it has…
#SciFri: What are the Grandes Serres du Jardin des Plantes?
During my time in Paris earlier this summer, I spent a large amount of time in the Jardin des Plantes, I’ve already reviewed a couple of the museums and the Ménagerie will probably be next. Another of the many educational…
#SciFri: Visiting Kew Gardens
Roughly a year ago, I visited Kew Gardens for the first time since I was a child. It had been that long since I had actually been there, that it wasn’t at all like I remembered. I can only assume…
#SteveReviews: The Green Planet
We have been blessed in recent years with a number of new landmark series featuring Sir David Attenborough. Now, with The Green Planet, plants can finally step out of the shadow of animals and delight us in all of their…
#StevesLibrary: The Naming of the Shrew
There are many things that you learn during the course of a zoology degree, and the subsequent years regarding the scientific naming of animals and plants. These include such facts as the binomial system of taxonomy that we use today…
#StevesLibrary: The Orchid Hunter
After reading The Butterfly Isles earlier on in the year, I went looking for other books that had a similar story to them. Just to recap, in Barkham’s fantastic book, he spends the summer trying to see every species of…
#StevesLibrary: The Brief Life of Flowers
One of the consequences of the recent lockdowns, is a growing love for flowers. The garden in the house I’m renting was a bit of a jungle, but recently my partner and I took all of our frustration out on…
#SciFri: What’s that lichen?
During a recent walk along the North Downs Way recently with my good friend Vanessa, we stumbled across some trees that were covered in lichen. Being the curious types that we are, we collected some twigs from these trees and…
