To many New York City residents building a roof garden or terrace garden can be the opportunity to create a green oasis and a private outdoor landscape.  With New York City real estate at a premium, adding an “outdoor room” becomes an extension of your indoor living space. Creating beautiful gardens begins with a great garden design plan that is functional as well as aesthetically pleasing, continues with your involvement in the garden construction and hiring talented garden management to insure long-term care of your outdoor space.

Terrace Garden Ideas that will keep you outside!

As you consider your outdoor space as an extension of your indoor space….  What activities do you envision enjoying outdoors? How do you want to program your garden space? For example: cocktail parties on your terrace taking in the nighttime sky, family barbecues on summer evenings, children’s birthday parties on the roof, Sunday brunch outdoors on the terrace, taking business calls while soaking in you terrace hottub? Once you decide on these activities, that knowledge will assist you in design, materials, furniture, et cetera.

Creative Ideas for a Modern Terrace Design

Vegetable garden on the roof terrace! The traditional kitchen garden or vegetable garden is known as a garden potager in France, or a kailyard in Scotland. Growing herbs, fruit or vegetables are very possible. Always consider right plant, right place. 

You can incorporate herbs such as thyme, sage or alpine strawberries (Fragaria vesta)  as a ground cover under shrubs, With a properly set up gas grill those aforementioned herbs will come in handy. Woody plants such as Prunus mariana (plum) can be planted as a windscreen, Vaccinium corymbosum (Highbush blueberry) and rosemary handle exposed, sunny sites on a roof especially well. 

“Eden in the sky”

Installing plant material that serve as food sources for pollinators becomes a source of entertainment for people— watching bees and butterflies dance from flower to flower is simply magical. Try planting Zizia, parsley, dill, fennel (all in the carrot family) which are hosts for the black swallowtail butterfly, Asclepias tuberosa for monarch butterflies, Sedum for fritillaries and sulfurs love asters. 

Outdoor Furniture ideas for the roof garden, balcony or terrace garden

Use flexible furniture if you are expecting to have multiple parties or family gatherings. When decorating a small terrace, use proportional furniture and consider weight. Furniture that folds up and can be stored away allows to the space to be multifunctional, rather than cramped with too many chairs. This also affords you the ease of clearing the space during hurricane season and winter. 

Similar to interior decorating, consider working with color palettes and garden patterns. Another thought on furniture and space saving is to fabricate built-in seating, with storage under the seat. If you only have one area for seating, consider lounge seating with a big coffee table - you can relax and also dine alfresco.

Opportunities and constraints of a terrace garden design.

Within your design take advantage of views but mask the less attractive elements. Mechanicals (venting, air conditioner condensers) can be hidden by placing plant material in from of them. Tough native shrubs are perfect for this.. just check the manufacturers spec for appropriate clearance around the mechanical for air flow.

Lower Maintenance Terrace Garden

Understand that the more exposed your terrace garden is, the hotter and windier it will be. Along with that, your plants will encounter severe desiccation. You will likely need to water twice a day in mid-summer.  Install a drip irrigation system.  Regulate and automate watering your plants. The goal is to relax not to work watering your plants! 

Designing a LUXURY Rooftop Terrace

Inspiring rooftop terrace design ideas do include televisions, hot tubs and fire pits.  Televisions are best installed either in a cabinet with protection or under a pergola. Either way they should be secured from wind load. Semi-permanent hammocks are an ideal form of lounging on terrace with a limited amount of space — when not in use, simply unhook it from it’s connection point and store away!  Lighting can be used to transform the ambience of a garden from day to night.  You can achieve sensitive and dramatic effects while respecting dark sky initiatives. Stake lights in the planting beds,  task lights situated at critical positions can be put on dimmer switches.  

How to Build a Terrace Garden

Know your restrictions. Regulations and rules defining building and design of terrace gardens are unique to each building, condominium, cooperative, board and management.  Check with them before proceeding. Many structures such as pergolas may need to be approved by Landmarks commission or Department of Buildings, NYC as well.

Understand what the maximum weight load is per square foot as designed for your roof. Consider weather elements from strong winds, reflective surfaces and exposure from sun. There are ways to minimize and design accordingly.  Pergolas and umbrella should be structurally attached to the building architecture, trees and planters can be secured via guy wires and cabeling.

Planter boxes can become extremely heavy and overload the weight limits for the building. Finding a way to minimize the total weight of a planter, while at the same time providing sufficient growing medium for plants is challenging, but critical. Purchasing fiberglass planters or aluminum planters will always be lighter than those created from wood.  And should have a longer life.  Wood, like soil becomes heavier when wet. Untreated wood will decompose over time

An irrigation system can simplify you maintenance quotient, but maintaining outdoor space is still time-consuming. Multiple times through the year check to see that drains are clear.  

NYC Terrace Garden Safety

Lastly, but certainly of great importance is confirming that parapet edges, railings should all be at a height of 42” from grade. If you have young children and you do place planters at the edge, consider purchasing planters that are the same height of the parapet edge so they don’t become a step or booster for young legs.