ALL ABOUT ROOF GARDENS

Look aloft, to the top of the buildings… a roof garden design is outward looking, a designed sanctuary high up on top of a building, sometimes with an endless panorama, a bright, beautiful, and open sky above it.  Most appropriately, it fits today’s city dweller with their overscheduled, time challenged lives. 

For many, traveling to a city park takes a 1/2 hour or longer to embrace nature; walking up a flight of stairs or out their side door to a shared or private roof garden designed and built by their landscape designer is but seconds away and “immediately gratifying.” A place to look at and admire the blue skies at day and heavens at night. It is a place to relax and re-energize, a place to reflect and even to pray. We enjoy company and serve them meals below the heavens; illuminate our garden space with lights and torches for ambiance at dusk.

As a NYC garden designer creating roof gardens I can attest that the value and benefits of a roof garden design is much more than aesthetics and increased real estate value.  

HERE ARE TEN ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL BENEFITS TO A ROOF GARDEN

SUCCESS IN THE GARDEN: GARDEN CONTAINER IDEAS

1. Small containers will need to be watered more often than large flowerpots.  Planters made out of porous materials such as a terra cotter planter will need to be watered more often than a plastic container.  Plastic and glazed pots are slower to dry out because water doesn't evaporate through these non-porous materials.

These beautiful planters found at Wave Hill Gardens in Bronx, New York are made of stone which is a porous material.

 2. When the outside temperature approach 80-90 degrees; in the sun (and shade) you may need to water a small container more than once a day.  A garden container with more soil means your plants can grow a bigger root system.  Plants with lots of roots tend to be healthy, happy plants.

Using various plants in a large planter design can be effective in a large terrace garden planter

 3. A light-potting medium is recommended with addition of natural cedar mulch as a topping to retain moisture and mitigate temperature extremes.

 4. Fertilizer is essential for having the best plant containers. Remember that with constant watering, nutrients are consistently leeching out of the soil of your beautiful container planting.  On a regular basis, you should be feeding these plants -- unless they are plants that prefer low nutrient soil (such as lavender.)

 5. Typically, the more plants you have in a single planter design, the greater their need will be for irrigation.

Large terrace planters need a significant amount of irrigation to be successful. They also need a constant application of fertilizer.

10 KEY BENEFITS OF ROOF GARDENS

1. Enhanced value

The most obvious advantage of a roof garden is as a valuable amenity that enhances the worth of the structure it occupies for a relatively modest expenditure.  A roof garden substantially enhances re-sale or rental values. It raises property values.  It is additional or reclaimed usable space. A bonus is the ability to gain promotion and marketing benefits via a green roof. 

2.  Increased Life Expectancy of the Roof

One of the great benefits of roof gardens, vertical gardens and green roofs is that, by protecting the underlying roof covering, they extend the life of the existing roof fabric by up to 200%. A green roof protects the roof membrane from climatic extremes and physical abuse, thereby greatly increasing the life expectancy of the roof.

3. Property Tax Credit Incentives 

New York City recently passed a city bylaw that rewards building-owners who cover 50 per cent of available rooftop space with a green roof with a one-year property tax credit of up to $100,000. The credit would be equal to $4.50 per square-foot of roof area that is planted with vegetation, or approximately 25 per cent of the typical costs associated with the materials, labor, installation and design of the green roof. More and more municipalities and other government agencies are providing incentives that can help offset the cost of a green roof.

4. Insulate against heat and sound

Buildings with roof gardens lose 30% less heat in the winter, are cooler in the summer, and offer year-round sound insulation. Green roofs can improve the thermal resistance of the roof assembly throughout the year, especially in summer months by helping to reduce cooling costs, saving fuel. Reduced noise levels from typical extensive green roofs (3” - 4” growing media) reduce reflective sound by up to 3 dB and improve sound insulation by up to 8 dB

5. Retain and manage rainwater

Stormwater retention: green roofs absorb up to 75% of rainfall, thus reducing the runoff dramatically, and lowering the risk of floods. Depending on the roof garden design, a green roof can typically reduce storm water run-off by 50 to 90%. Additionally, the peak flow volume is greatly reduced and the peak flow period is delayed by as much as 4 hours, minimizing the impact on existing sewer systems.

6. Provide social benefits 

Green roofs expand the usefulness of buildings via patios, gardens and vistas.  Planting gardens, both at ground level and in the sky, provide not only great spaces for relaxation and enjoyment, but also are great to look at! 

7. Improve air quality 

Plants produce oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the air. They also trap up to 85% of airborne particulates on their leaf surfaces. Plants, soil, and air trapped in the soil are great acoustic insulators.

8. Modify urban micro-climates 

Cities, of concrete and tarmac, retain heat and create "urban heat islands", as much as 10F warmer than surrounding suburbs. Plants, through transpiration, directly cool the air, and can reduce surface roof temperatures by as much as 75F in summer.

9. Provide diverse habitats 

Roof gardens, when planted with indigenous flora, can provide important habitats for native bird and insect populations. Green roofs create biodiversity.

10. LEED Certification

Opportunity to assist in achieving LEED certification in several categories

Essentially within a dense urban environment one needs green space. Gardens are an ethereal world - they should be calming spaces and transport you to another state of mind within an urban environment. It can be a Brooklyn townhouse garden design, NYC contemporary patio, a small yard or a comfy and inviting urban roof garden.