A London Roof Terrace Garden makeover

2 Aug '06 6:39 pm

Hi Eggy! Nice to see developments in your garden - I know how easily balcony gardens get neglected, having had one in my last Johannesburg home. Extremes of wet, heat or wind affect them much more than in-earth gardens. However yours is remarkably pristine in the pics (OK, I also know how to make things look pristine in pics!) Fact is - one of the things I love about the forum as opposed to actual garden visitors - one can share the garden-in-your-mind more easily in pictures, editing out the failures and neglects... one of my all-time favourite pics of my garden is of one of my least loved bits of plant design - but the light was perfect, and the gorgeous but clashing Maria Callas rose in the background was not in flower. So we edit that which we share...

Be it as it may: I love the rather off-beat combination of plants and the rhythms you set up in your garden. Well done! Your squirrel seems to fancy himself rather as a filmstar - talk of making love to the camera! Perhaps he should be nominated for Moosey's Pet of the Month??

Ever since my stay in England I've been confused by British Bees: what is a Bumble Bee? To me it is a large solitary bee, at least 4 times the size of a honey bee, with more black than gold to it. Do the Brits use the term bumble bee and honey bee interchangeably? Do bumble bees produce honey? Etc?

3 Aug '06 9:07 pm

Thanks for posting those lovely shots of your lovely roof-top garden, Eggy! Yes, your garden looks real neat and tidy, and I especially love all your flowering cactii. The bees and squirrel seem to have attained permanent resident status?...how lovely to have them around! Wink

4 Aug '06 2:31 am

Eggy, your garden looks FAB!!! I can't believe the transformation - it's so lovely and the shelving with all the cacti is brilliant, you've employed the concept of different heights really well! Wink

I understand why you feel it's a perfect haven!

I particularly love all the cacti - a v impressive collection! I'm sure you'd get on well with my Dad coz he's got more cacti than you could shake a big stick at!! Also, since he and Mum moved to Devon, he's entered a couple into the local village show and won prizes for them! Very Happy

One question (just coz I'm a total geek and no other reason Wink

) - are you actually on the third floor as far as English people would understand it (i.e. counting the ground floor then first, second & third), or are you translating for our overseas friends?

Jack, I'm not sure of too much detail, but we English don't see bumble bees and honey bees as the same - you're right about the bumble being large, and he normally kind of flits around slowly from flower to flower, I've always thought of him as the nicest bee coz he's very chilled out! Very Happy

The honey bee is much smaller I believe and is the one we get honey from. I've found a couple of interesting sites about each one:

http://www.honey.com/kids/facts.html
http://hercules.users.netlink.co.uk/Bee.html

4 Aug '06 3:11 am

Well done, Eggy, your garden is lovely and your photos are stunning. Now I see where Moosey gets her talent for photography (Or is it the other way around?). Don't want to start a family fued or anything. The pictures of the squirrel are hilarious. It looks like he discovered the camera at the same time the camera discovered him. He seems to be thinking "What the heck is that?"

Love it.

Faith

5 Aug '06 6:25 am

Eggy - I nearly forget! Some weeks ago, whilst marking exam papers in fact, I had the opportunity to take a close-up of a typical African Bee specially for you! Here it is...

6 Aug '06 2:54 am

Eggy, I am just now discovering your London roof terrace garden.

There's just so much to see here (past) and keep up with the ‘goings-on’ in the present. It's a good thing that I have no life to interfere with my new hobby...'visiting' gardens around the world. Laughing

Only wanted to say how much I enjoyed the lavender/bee photos. There is something so fascinating about watching a bee...providing there is a nice sturdy pane of glass between us! I have an on going battle with a carpenter bee who comes to taunt me everyday outside my breakfast room window. I’ll try and get a good photo of him. They are quite large and much more aggressive than the bumblebee.

Since I have no ‘real’ gardens to share with you, I thought I would share a picture of the beautiful blue sky of Oklahoma. Some days it really is that clear and blue. So far pollution does not rule in this part of the state.

22 Aug '06 10:31 am

Hello my name is Nick, I am a 33 year old garden webmaster and I have a compulsive cactus purchasing problem Smile

There! I've admitted it. Now I wonder where I get my compulsive plant buying genes from eh!?? For several months I have been purchasing cacti of all shapes and sizes and have run out of room in my bedroom, living room and outside on the roof terrace.

There are now 5(!) shelves and more than 80 cacti, euphorbias and succulents on the roof terrace. 20 inside and several I've given away to neighbours. I tried to construct a complicated polythene awning to keep the english rain from overwatering my spikey friends but it sort of didn't work. I'm getting quite worried about overwatering and will try and find some housebricks this weekend and sort out some proper protection. I'll take some photos of what it turned out like tomorrow night if I remember.

bambi : "are you actually on the third floor as far as English people would understand it ?" This made me laugh out loud. Yup you got it in one!!! From one 'total geek' to another : From street level I'm on the 2nd floor, from the garden (at basement level) I'm on the 3rd floor. Either way I'm on the TOP FLOOR and I'm the only one on my block with a roof terrace so I feel like 'King of the Castle' Smile

norvona : blue sky indeed Smile

Isn't Oklahoma / Montana known as 'Big Sky Country?' I've been a bit down in the dumps lately and found singing Irving Berlin's old standard 'Blue Skies' on the way to work in the morning a good way to cheer myself up...

Blue Skies - Irving Berlin

I was blue, just as blue as I could be
Evry day was a cloudy day for me
Then good luck came a-knocking at my door
Skies were gray but theyre not gray anymore

Blue skies
Smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies
Do I see

Bluebirds
Singing a song
Nothing but bluebirds
All day long

Never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right
Noticing the days hurrying by
When youre in love, my how they fly

Blue days
All of them gone
Nothing but blue skies
From now on

I should care if the wind blows east or west
I should fret if the worst looks like the best
I should mind if they say it cant be true
I should smile, thats exactly what I do

(thanks to moosey the music teacher for such a wide musical upbringing)

Jack : Bring on the insect photos and the tri nations All Blacks rugby whitewash!

Faith : Thanks for your kind words Smile

Moosey and I take our photography quite seriously and we both have distinct photographic styles - I prefer macros and closeups while it took Moosey 3 years to discover her camera had a macro button! At last count we've amassed more than 10,000 photos!!!

jacqueline : Pigeons are banned from the roof terrace garden after one came thru an open window while I was at work and proceeded to dig up all the cacti in my bedroom and make a feathery bird poop mess everywhere!

Liza : I'm glad the video experiment worked, I've taken some more and will post it next weekend.

Its late now and I want to read a few chapters before I hit the sack. Here are some more cactus and succulent photos from my collection.

23 Aug '06 2:07 am

Hello again Nick,

I enjoyed your photos of the burgeoning Cacti garden plants. Do you have plans to erect a glasshouse over your rooftop terrace for the winter months? If not, sounds like you will have to give up more living space. Perhaps you could try sleeping in the tub (if you have one, instead of a shower stall). They are lovely and there are so many interesting varieties. Here in the USA there are some beautiful gardens in the Southwest that feature nothing but Cacti and Succulents. If you ever get the opportunity, you should visit Arizona.

Faith

23 Aug '06 5:56 am

What amazing photos ,Eggy ! With names to match !
I agree about the cactus in Arizona, Faith. My sister visited there several years ago ,and has never seen such magnificent and unusual gardens of cacti - she commented that being outside at night among the perfumes of the desert blooms was indeed a unique experience.
PS --the gorgeous blue sky over Oklahoma is a welcome sight too,after months of dismal grey here...I shall hum Eggy`s song today.
Dixie.

1 Sep '06 11:05 am

Its been a busy week in the garden. I've not been well and neither have some of my cacti. They are getting too much water and my home-made waterproofing wasn't working.

Stenocactus Hastatus was the first to succumb to the excess water - his spines have are now ivory white with powdery mildew around the base. His ridges are heavily discoloured / mottled. I've moved him to a dry sheltered spot and accelerated my winter greenhouse program suggested by Faith a couple of posts ago.

A couple other cacti aren't coping well with all the water. I try and remember to keep them dry and rotate them around the dry spots but my 9 to 5 job is pretty demanding and my memory is aweful Wink

So..... I've bought a couple of cheap wooden greenhouses and my downstairs neighbour Deniz and I have assembled one of them. I've put a couple of coats of varnish on to protect the wood from the constant winter rain we get here in the UK and have sealed some of the exposed areas with silicon gel to keep water out of cracks and corners.

I'm determined that my cacti will have a nice dry warm place to live in. One I have varnished both of my cacti hotels I may even have enough space to buy MORE CACTI AND SUCCULENTS!!!!

Before I go to bed I would like to thank Erica Gracilis for a brief and cheap splash of colour. One pound well spent at the greengrocers on the high street.

photo time...

A London Roof Terrace Garden makeover

Suitably impressed!

Lovely!

WOW!

Rooftop terrace garden

Typical African bee

ROOF TERRACE GARDEN

I have a compulsive cactus purchasing problem..

Cacti and Succulents

amazing

A busy week in the garden