Saturday the 19th May 2012
There are tiny roof gardens and large expansive roof gardens. There are residential roof gardens and public roof gardens. Yes, there are retail roof gardens and industrial roof gardens as well. A roof garden or green roof, (tomato, tomatoe, potato, potatoe), it is still a planted green roof, and they are everywhere.
The problem that exists is that those who plant, install and manage those green rooftops are not being counted or exposed. They are up high, in most cases and out of the public’s eye, unless you are a taller neighbor. To my surprise, even driving through small town America I chanced upon a wonderful sight. It was one of the smaller roof gardens, I have seen to date. It is a small shed-like building located at Schultz Nursery and Garden Center in Danville, Illinois.
World's Smallest Public Rooftop Garden- Schultz Nursery and Garden Center, Danville, IL
Danville is known for many things, like Dick and Jerry Van Dyke, Gene Hackman and even some famous sports figures. But is Danville home to the world’s smallest, public, rooftop garden? That is what we want to know. It may be at this stage of the game. Hopefully Schultz will find out about our database and add their example to the list. It counts to me and it is absolutely worthy of being on the list.
As far as the largest, I have to give credit to Andrea Martinello of, N.A.T.S. Nursery Ltd. “Specialized Growers and Wholesalers” who informed me that her firm grew the plugs for the (best of my knowledge) 6 acre green roof on the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Vancouver Convention Center 6 acre roof.
So there is a tiny public roof in Danville, Illinois, which is one of the smallest, along with one of our favorite, private and smallest roof gardens, even smaller than my Chicago roof garden of 400 feet and as featured on the blog 66squarefeet a 66 square foot version and there is the largest, Vancouver Convention Center at 6 acres. There is no excuse why you cannot have one now!
Just remember, a rooftop garden can not only range in size, but also in type and access. Whether public or private, commercial or residential, we are adding one rooftop garden at a time here at RoofTopGarden.com. Share this with a roof gardener you know and get them to put their roof on our database. (http://www.rooftopgarden.com/database)
There is no reason why they shouldn’t.
When the plan was conceived to create an online rooftop garden database there was a flaw in the plan. To me it would be a no-brainer. Ask folks to stand up and be counted. Wrong.
I listed my garden, which I am very proud of. You know: ‘lead by example’.
I have emailed people.
I have asked people.
I have visited people.
I have searched Google.
I started a LinkedIn group called Rooftop Gardening Group. Nothing.
Then one day, like a slot machine ringing a winner, they found us! Here are some of the early adopters who have contributed to our website!
- Thanks to Marguerite Wells of Mother Plants, a roof garden plant supplier, who has listed some spectacular roof projects to date. The photography of their projects is absolutely outstanding as well. Again, thanks Marguerite!! We love your work. -If I were an architect I would list the various projects I have designed. Someone did just that.
-Thanks to GS Lee and KNTA Architects who have listed the Singapore Management University City Campus roof garden. We were so very proud when Geok-ser Lee reached out to us. He has become a great internet friend as well! Thanks Geok.
-If I were an organization looking to promote sustainability, I would surely want to showcase my project! Guess what, ASHRAE did! That was a wonderful milestone to our effort to educate. ASHRAE is a beacon of light and information for so many of us. It is so very good to know that this organization stepped up to the plate and is showcasing their green roof! Thanks to Mike Vaughn at ASHRAE for taking his time to post this garden. I would bet Mike is a great person to network with about his project as well! Thanks so much to Mike, for helping the cause.
-A huge thanks to Mack Barnhardt of Air Filtration Systems, Corp who was an outstanding expert in the field of ventilation and odors. Mack contributed his time and brilliance to an article titled, Rooftop Gardens: Smell the Roses Not the Odors!, and of course for linking his website to RooftopGarden.com. Mack has really become a great resource for our entire industry! If you have any building odor issue of any kind, call Mack!!
-David Plechner, Sales Manager at C.M. Jones Incorporated (landscape design, build and maintenance firm), has truly been one of my earliest green roof professional supporters in so many ways. David is a wealth of information on the infrastructure side of the business. There is probably no roof garden question he cannot answer or he will get you the answer. I call David “my go to roof guy”. If you want professional and practical insight, contact David! David was the kindest man to give me permission to post his excellent roof garden progress photos on our Projects page. The photos and the unfolding of the story in pictures, were spot on! I wish I could find more folks like David out there with great stories to tell in pictures. As Property and Facility Managers, we love pictures and drawings as we are very visual people and C.M. Jones got the job done. Thanks to C.M. Jones.
I am still trying to unlock the secret of how to really find rooftop gardens and their founders. I have not yet found the formula or the technique. No matter what, I still believe it is worthwhile to continue and forge ahead. There are many building owners, property managers, facility managers and tenants with valuable roof space that is simply under utilized. We want to lead them to the resource and expose them to the possibility. That is the purpose of examples.
If we can get the small everyday roof gardens, along with the public roof gardens and green walls listed on the database, I think it would show those who are hesitant to pursue it, that it can be done. We may do it one roof at a time, but we will do it and appreciate every single one of them.
Do you know of any roof gardens, landscape architects, plant suppliers or municipalities encouraging roof gardens? If so, please tell me about them or send those gardeners here to add their project to our database. Remember, it just takes one roof at a time to get the job done.
If you have a rooftop garden, living wall, green roof, or whatever living, planted surface or plane or you built it, designed it or installed the plants or grew the plants, you MUST be on this list. For ten years I have said that I will create a comprehensive list that includes all of the rooftop/green roof gardens in the world. If you love to photograph those gardens, what a great place to go to find out if there are any you may visit on your next vacation or business trip. Click this link to add your garden or wall: http://www.rooftopgarden.com/database
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While setting up the technical side of rooftopgarden.com, I was talking to a web guy and he had no idea what a rooftop garden was. He actually asked me, what is this company, rooftopgarden.com, what is a rooftop garden? It really hit me. Wow, I thought everyone really knew what a rooftop garden was. Then I realized, duh, no they don’t. That is the purpose of rooftopgarden.com. The entire reason I reserved the domain name 10 years ago was for that exact reason. Nobody really knew or understood what a rooftop garden was except for those in close circles with Mayor Daley, or the Department of Environment folks or my dear friend Bernice and my awesome husband John. Actually, I am kidding. There are many experts out there who have extensive knowledge of the subject. Hopefully you will get to meet some of those experts as they participate in this blog and the development of the rooftop garden database.
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