The Rose Garden

Roses are famously hard to grow: fragile, diseaseprone, barely fragrant. Bred for looks rather than scent, they demand constant attention just to keep up appearance.
For centuries, that difficulty was the point. A flawless rose garden signalled that you had the money or power to hire someone who could take care of it.This editorial gives the labourer the pride and style historically reserved for the aristocratic garden owner. It keeps the dirt and effort that image was built to hide.Roses don’t grow themselves. Behind every manicured hedge and perfect bloom is dirt under fingernails, sweat, blistered hands, the repetitive strain of digging and hauling water. We’re interested in that unseen labour: the gardener as a worker, doing physically demanding, thankless work.