Befores and Afters: New York Roof Garden

Nearly there. A few more tweaks and then regular looking after, and this project will be complete. Pictures can't tell the whole story, of course, nor may the whole story be told. Suffice it to say that seeing something come to life from a painting on thick, handmade French paper, is very exciting.

Moving from the silence of my little apartment, where the early schematic brushstrokes are made, where calculations are pored over, or from tense email exchanges and engineering directives, from a chaotic job-site to an actual garden, involves a lot of people making a lot of decisions, and solving a lot of problems:

A client, architects, a garden designer, project managers, carpenters, accountants, building managers, engineers, stone masons, gardeners, nursery owners, perennials growers, tree farmers, irrigation technicians, electricians...

Below, last year, winter:

Today:

Below, nine months ago.

The new baby. It needs to do some growing, of course, and plenty of TLC. On the right is part of a beech hedge. Come the new growing season I hope to see them fill out a lot more. They have just been trimmed at the tops, and I think I wrote before that they are from Buffalo, where they have overwintered and hardened off, via Oregon.

To the left of the ipe walkway - which must still be oiled - is a huge skylight for walking on. Disconcerting if you're wearing a skirt and the room below is full of construction workers..

Yesterday, bamboo being planted on the lower terrace...

...to transform last year's dreary outlook, below:

To this. This level is rather minimalist, but it will warm up with furniture and fabrics.

My favourite part is under the water tower, which was a dead, lost area when I first saw it.

Green!

Japanese forest grass in a raised bed with drainage mat placed under the soil mixture.

The upper level's western side, before.

And now. Customs cushions needed.