Stephen Forbes – Medium

Stephen Forbes

Stephen Forbes

THE TREE OF LIFE? Palms, Palm Sunday & the Victory of Life over Death

The Sunday before Easter is celebrated in Christian churches as Palm Sunday. The placing of palm branches inside the churches of our City…

Mar 22, 2018

THE TREE OF LIFE? Palms, Palm Sunday & the Victory of Life over Death

Mar 22, 2018

Stephen Forbes

A new Temple of Flora — an ornament crime?

The Temple of Flora, that opened this Spring in the superb 1864 arts and crafts cottage at Heronswood, the historic house and garden…

Dec 1, 2017

A new Temple of Flora — an ornament crime?

Dec 1, 2017

Stephen Forbes

Petunias — ‘I made you take the time to look at what I saw’

As a kid I recall the neighbour across the street planting seedling petunias for summer bedding displays each spring. While the…

Feb 21, 2017

Petunias — ‘I made you take the time to look at what I saw’

Feb 21, 2017

Stephen Forbes

The oldest historical tree in the world

“In Sri Lanka, there grows to this day, a tree, the oldest historical tree in the world.” — H.G. Wells

Dec 26, 2016

The oldest historical tree in the world

Dec 26, 2016

Stephen Forbes

Christmas gin & other botanicals — following the scent of Christmas

Perhaps #10 in a decade old Botany of Christmas serial (- I’ll review previous Botany of Christmas contributions in The Adelaide Review at…

Dec 16, 2016

Christmas gin & other botanicals — following the scent of Christmas

Dec 16, 2016

Stephen Forbes

White bread and Densuke melons — plants as luxury foods

White bread began as a luxury food. In 1800 only half of Britons had access to white bread. Even the wheat grown by tenant farmers was…

Mar 29, 2016

White bread and Densuke melons — plants as luxury foods

Mar 29, 2016

Stephen Forbes

Love at first sight, in every fifth breath

While acknowledging that some botanists might disavow algae as plants I’m still inclined to corral them into greenspace — after all they do…

Mar 23, 2016

Love at first sight, in every fifth breath

Mar 23, 2016

Stephen Forbes

Tchaikovsky’s tribute to economic botany

In Christmas’s past we’ve explored almonds and marzipan, sugar and glace fruits, frankincense and myrrh, Christmas trees and the rather…

Dec 2, 2015

Tchaikovsky’s tribute to economic botany

Dec 2, 2015

Stephen Forbes

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh — the Botany of Christmas

“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary…

Dec 2, 2015

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh — the Botany of Christmas

Dec 2, 2015

Stephen Forbes

Lilac time

Lilacs are one of my favourite flowers. The wonderfully fragrant flowers borne at the ends of branches contrast perfectly with the glossy…

Nov 3, 2015

Lilac time

Nov 3, 2015

Stephen Forbes

Stephen Forbes

Stephen Forbes is a botanist and writer exploring the relationship between people and plants — still amazed by the miracle of photosynthesis.

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