Roman Gardening

Went to Fishbourne Roman Villa today, don't think we were allowed to photo inside but out in the grounds they had a Roman potting shed display.

 

in the old days, they made clay pots ...

now they have new plastic airpots made from re-cycled plastic



lots of rave reviews about these from people who have tested them, as the roots grow towards the small openings on the sides (no more roots that go around in circles) .... and plants grow bigger/healthier

I may buy a large one tommorow and plant a Fatsia Spidersweb as a houseplant for my daughter's bedroom

pity they are only in black though

 

Typical Italian terracotta Ziggy.
Its still not frost hardy a thousand years later.

 

Ziggy,
What are you doing in that roped off area? You look like you're wearing Roman clothes as well.

 

I have used these and seen them in use during my time at Edinburgh Botanic gardens and they are indeed fantastic bits of kit dim, and produced some of the most wondrously fibrous roots I'd ever seen and that's saying something:WINK1:

I don't know how successful they will be for houseplants but RBGE use them extensively in their nursery for tree's and shrubs although I think I'm correct in remembering that a few staff noted that largely tap-rooted plants disliked them and didn't grow as well as if planted in normal pots. the idea being that as roots grow towards to sides they get "air pruned" by the holes and so branch out, only thing I really disliked abut them is there mighty sharp round the bottom edges and hard to move if they have a large plant in and tend to pop open