This is just petal porn
Let’s just get it out there. My roses are amazing. And I can’t believe I’m shoving yet more colour at you in the form of flowers.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG_6988.jpg)
I feel we all need to sit quietly in a field of dirt and just embrace brown for a bit. Every post this month is a festival of ridiculous colour wheel glory.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG_6993-1-e1558851641294.jpg)
But no.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG_6987.jpg)
I moved these planters from the courtyard when we repointed the house.
They started in pots; had a few years of sneaking their deepest roots into the gravel soil. Then they languished once I pruned their roots to get them out of the way of the builders.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/etienne-moving-roses.jpg)
Here is Etienne wondering whether gardening really was in his job description.
They went back for a season. And did not thrive. You can see here. They were ‘fine’. But actually I think I just had more fun painting the planters Downpipe grey.
They had to rely on me to get nourishment and water and in our hot climate it just felt cruel.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/courtyard-view-1.jpg)
The roots needed to get into proper soil rather than be confined.
But I was plagued by mole rats munching the roots of most things in my potager for years.
So I was nervous. It might seem strange but I decided that instead of dismantling the wooden planters and doing the normal thing of planting bare root roses. I just planted the whole thing. Box and all.
And let the roots find their way into the soil as the wood rotted down.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG_7001.jpg)
It meant that the roses had a quieter year while they ‘settled in’. But it was a natural move after the distress of seeing mole rats causing so much havoc. I still haven’t dared to sow carrots, parsnips or any other root vegetable in the lower potager for fear of encouraging the beasts.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG_6984.jpg)
They didn’t. So after a year of things being fine…
This is my potager delight – roses really blooming.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG_6981.jpg)
I still have three of the roses in their planters int eh courtyard. No one has volunteered to ‘help’ me lift these incredibly heavy monsters. And I think the potager has enough roses
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG_7002.jpg)
Yes, there is such a thing. I do need to save room for the vegetables in among the flowers.
But in terms of crop harvesting…