Gardens by Silo - Orient Avenue

The south view of the rooftop terrace, showing the planters in early spring before budding.

The Orient Avenue rooftop terrace is located Brooklyn, New York.

CHALLENGE

2026 is the first season with this garden for the new owners. The first year is best spent observing and making notes on plant inventory, colors (if any), and amendments (assessing soil conditions, adding plants, and addressing issues).

The container terrace garden sits atop a three-story brownstone and is subject to drying winds. Light conditions vary with the seasons: spring and late fall offer abundant light, whereas in summer the terrace is shaded by two mature sycamores planted at street level.

In the spring, ants emerge and require management.

A defunct watering system exists, but it is currently unclear whether a plumbing fix in the basement will restore its function. An alternate plan is possible but would require either a faucet hose or plumbing work at the terrace level. As the owners travel extensively, a functioning watering system on a timer is essential for a successful urban rooftop garden.

The owners prefer perennials, except for two planters that are reserved for annuals with more immediate display value, especially for the birthday celebration in early May.

The western planters, currently filled with a grass, should ideally function as a privacy screen.

This illustration shows the layout of the terrace and the planters and water access we have to work with.

For this rooftop terrace, which was new to the owners, we did a first pass at identifying existing plants. The findings guided us in the rest of this plan.

The plan built on existing plant findings, which had an appropriate theme of low maintenance and drought tolerance.

For this particular garden, we also analysed blooming cycles.

Two planters were dedicated to seasonal display, so we added this page to guide the owners in structuring them.

All our plans include pages like this one; detailed plant lists for each area of the garden.

For this garden specifically, we added several pages like this one, aiming to guide the owners in selecting appropriate plants for their two display planters.

The owners wanted a jungle feel to the terrace so we encouraged them to try Colocasia.

Because the owner wanted blooms in early May, we pointed them towards spring bulbs, which can be under planted both annuals and perennials in planters.

This plan also included seasonal maintenance plans, both a general one, and specific ones for each planter group.