Rooftop gardens

[SweetBeast]

Claudine, thanks for the thread & photos & to all for their input! They are very beautiful & as Danni said, one can live in a big city, yet open a door & leave that city behind for as long as you choose!

I mistakenly started a very small, but lush garden of grass on my neighbor's roof, for which I need to find a way to remove, for the reasons Chanell & Victor mentioned.

I live in a 2nd story condo & my neighbor's roof is around the corner from my deck. I feed many wild birds & a year ago, I was tossing seed on the roof so the birds could spread out & enjoy some food, cat-free! But they obviously didn't eat it all as a small garden of grass has sprouted - very nice to look at, but I need to get it removed, & since I can't reach it to manually remove, I will be buying some weed killer to spray over with the hose.

Claudine, I see you are also a fan of Audrey Hepburn! Have you a favorite film of hers? Mine would be Roman Holiday then Funny Face! But I also love her as Eliza in My Fair Lady, Sabrina, & Holly in Breakfast at Tiffanys! But I have always had one thing bother me in Breakfast.... & that is the stereotypical role Mickey Rooney played of the Chinese man upstairs - so far over the top & to me, insulting to Asians in general. I know Caopte wrote it that way & the screenplay juiced it up, so Mickey was acting the part the way it was written. I loved all the Mickey Rooney films when he was a young man.

Again, thanks Claudine!

 

[Tmann]

I thought about building one of these on my pump house for my pond. It would only be abut 2.5'x 3' though.

 

[Arzosah]

Loving all these pictures of rooftops and the gardens and other buildings, how absolutely wonderful Within a city, a rooftop garden must create a little oasis of peace and calm - sorely needed these days. And when space is at such a premium, then to use every bit of space we can is a really great idea.

I'm loving the pictures of the animals on the rooftops too they're great. That doesn't happen in this country (the UK) except for the odd earthship thats been specially constructed, but I have experienced it a few times. Once, in the middle of Izmir, which is a big city on the western coast of Turkey. I was staying there one winter, and walking up a stone stairway to a park I'd seen, and I heard a bleating sound - it was a sheep on the second floor of a little apartment building. I haven't scanned that photo in to the computer yet, so I can't upload it ... hopefully I'll get round to it soon

The other was at a safari park in Africa, in Zimbabwe. There's a huge problem with baboons - they jump onto people's backs to try to undo rucksacks and break into cardboard boxes, and they certainly run about all over roofs. It *is* disconcerting - they're so fast, and so active and destructive, they're not just sitting about like a sheep munching grass

I tell a lie about it not happening in this country - cats! Cats and squirrels on shallow roofs, they love it!

 

[Trellum]

I love rooftop gardens, but I don't think I'll need to resort to using the roof to create a garden, at least not in the Netherlands I think people over there have a lot space to have their own gardens in their own patio. I'll be there very soon, so I'm really excited I've never seen a rooftop garden in the place where I live, I think most people over here prefer the avarage garden over the rooftop one. Plus most of our houses have plenty of space for a garden

 

[Trellum]

A supermarket? It's wonderful! In my area supermarkets are the ugliest buildings. I wish they had rooftop gardens.
This is pretty:

And this looks like it wasn't planned... but still, it looks pretty:

Those pictures are amazing, but the second picture made me tremble I wonder if the people who live in that house aren't afraid this place might actually collapse, specially with those huge trees growing on the roof I love rooftop gardens, but I think that having a pine tree on top of a house is too much. If you ask me... I think the roof in the second picture is about to collapse, it's a beautiful view tho

 

[claudine]

Lol, you are right, I haven't thought about it. Living under a tree may be dangerous. On the other hand, it looks so pretty. I think that I could take the risk
This is such a gorgeous place:

 

[ChanellG]

I love rooftop gardens, but I don't think I'll need to resort to using the roof to create a garden, at least not in the Netherlands I think people over there have a lot space to have their own gardens in their own patio. I'll be there very soon, so I'm really excited I've never seen a rooftop garden in the place where I live, I think most people over here prefer the avarage garden over the rooftop one. Plus most of our houses have plenty of space for a garden

Growing plants on the roof isn't always about gardening: https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/green-roof-anyone.1380/

@claudine Have you heard about the High Line in NY City? They converted an elevated rail into a park with a similar concept to rooftop gardening.

See more at: http://www.thehighline.org/

 

[claudine]

No, it's the first time when I hear of the High Line in NY City. The picture is absolutely gorgeous, I adore it! I assume that it's allowed to walk there? I love finding such beautiful, green places in big cities. I couldn't live away from a big city, but I can't imagine living without plants either, so it's a perfect combination.

 

[ChanellG]

No, it's the first time when I hear of the High Line in NY City. The picture is absolutely gorgeous, I adore it! I assume that it's allowed to walk there? I love finding such beautiful, green places in big cities. I couldn't live away from a big city, but I can't imagine living without plants either, so it's a perfect combination.

Yes, that's the whole idea; you can even sit and eat there and at least one place serves wine. Did you click on the link under the photo? You can read about the history of the park and the features on the site. I have it pinned to my destinations folder on Pinterest as a place I plan to visit.

 

[claudine]

Oh, I haven't noticed the link, sorry. It's such a gorgeous pace, I would love to visit it too, I wish it wasn't so far away. I would sit there with a glass of white wine, it would be perfect. I always thought that NY City isn't too pretty but now I changed my mind.

 

[ChanellG]

Oh, I haven't noticed the link, sorry. It's such a gorgeous pace, I would love to visit it too, I wish it wasn't so far away. I would sit there with a glass of white wine, it would be perfect. I always thought that NY City isn't too pretty but now I changed my mind.

Remember when we discussed earth ships? i saw this today on Facebook and I thought of you:

From Grow Food Not Lawns

 

[claudine]

Wow, it's beautiful. I'm not sure if I would want to live there, because it doesn't look like a place when you can take a hot bath or use a computer But it doesn't change the fact that I find it very pretty.

 

[ChanellG]

LOL, you are definitely right about that. Then again, you never know. If there were a cell phone tower nearby it would be possible to get internet service, and you can always boil water for a bath; after all, that's what people did before indoor plumbing and hot water heaters.

 

[ACSAPA]

No one in South Florida is really doing rooftop gardens, but I think they are beautiful and I wish they would catch on here.

I think because a lot of Florida apartments have balconies, no one goes the extra mile to put more plants on the roof. Or maybe it's because we have a lot of hurricanes and the plants would fly off.

I'm jealous of the South Korean rooftop apartments where you basically have a whole terrace to yourself.

 

[TheCrazyPlantLady]

That is a bit much! I wonder how they got up there in the first place. Not that anyone can blame them for grazing; it's also a way to control the grass and keep it from overgrowing.

I think it was actually quite common to have goats on the roof, eating thatch, when both having thatch roofs and having goats was more common in rural areas. In Coombs, British Columbia, Canada, they have a restaurant that features goats on their thatched roof - you can even get t-shirts.