A Rooftop Garden fit for fairies

Faced with an awkward second story rooftop patio that had no practical purpose, my client hit me up with an idea.  "Can you build a fairy garden for my daughter?"  He asked.  The cement siding, synthetic decking clad barren box screamed for help.

An outdoor space devoid of purpose.

The patio oddly linked an upstairs bedroom to a stairwell over the garage.  While it overlooked the backyard, the 3.5 ft tall barrier half wall obscured the best view.   It was a tough space to find a purpose for.  Luckily for me, the stairwell it fed to was adjacent to the home school classroom I created for the client.  That gave us an opportunity.  Why not offer the space as a retreat for the kids during their school day and an opportunity to explore science lessons about flora and fauna.

It was a winning idea once it merged with their young daughters wish for a fairy garden and a new dog house for her puppy.

With this being a roof top garden of only 9' by 11', it needed to be petite yet mighty with content.  I turned to my themed prop illusions of faux rock and wood.  With some exaggeration in shape, color and texture, they will look like their straight out of a magical story book.  They became facades for the pressure treated raised planters.

Initial concepts reflect the "hobbit hole" doghouse, mushroom furniture and an arbor of faux branches.

Rather than try to deal with real branches, faux cement theme park style ones offer limitless possibilities in shape for the arbor that will be home to trailing vines and magical lights.

The rooftop garden ready for dancing fairies and gardening gnomes.

First and foremost, I covered the siding with a paper faced exterior plywood, so I could incorporate mural work to help with the illusion of a lush garden while we await the plants maturing.  Studio created pressure treated raised planter beds were clad with faux rocks and logs. Their daughters request for a dog house provided the opportunity to create a hobbit type home with a planted roof of irish moss, sedums and ornamental clover.  Flanking the four corners and meeting overhead was the ambitious idea of a faux cement branch arbor with a small Lexan roof to shield some of the NW rain from the mushroom table below.  The arbor will eventually become home to vines like standard and evergreen Clematis, Jasmine and Algerian Ivy.  In the meanwhile, wrapping it with grapevines and twinkle lights offer up some magic. 

Living roof fairygarden Hobbit Hole Doghouse by Embellishments Studio featuring faux rocks and logs.

Being a bit of a plant geek, I had fun incorporating some of my favorites and offering lots of texture and color play.  For my fellow geeks you'll spot Aspidistra, Clerodendron, Echium, Persicaria Red Dragon, gigantic Ornamental Rhubarb and some annual Musque De Provence pumpkin.  Most of the plantings are perennial and winter hardy, although I did mix in some annuals for instant color gratification.

While a picture is worth a thousand words, I imagine there are questions to be asked.  Here's what my friends have been asking.
1) Will birds use the birdhouse?  No, it's not properly designed to house babies, so the opening is just painted on.  Nested bird houses require annual cleaning and specific dimensions for the fledglings safety and survival.
2)  How is the garden being watered?   A drip system is installed throughout the garden and spans the space hidden inside the cement arbor.
3)  It looks crowded with plants, won't it become overgrown?  Yes, it is...(smile).  Given its somewhat harsh environment of reflected light, weather shielding overhangs and their life in a raised bed I'm planning on some fight or flight with even the most of reliable plants.  My idea is to let the garden evolve with some plants thriving as others may fail.  I'll revisit it next spring to see what there is to learn from the unique environment. 

Note on the reflected light- While the space is north facing, I personally learned how harsh the bounced light can be. This Danish pale freckled skin of mine quickly showed signs of my being roasted like a rotisserie chicken.

via GIPHY

4) Where did you get the little mushrooms?  We of course made them in the studio along with all the faux rock, logs and the cement mushroom furniture.  The little ones are made from a sculpted urethane foam, hard coated with UV resistant epoxy and painted with exterior grade paints.   The furniture set has a core of welded rebar wrapped in expanded galvanized cloth.  They were sculpt coated in cement and painted with an exterior grade cement friendly paint.  I used the same technique on some other furniture for use as store fixturing.

The life size fairy garden is ready for a magical party.

Made of cement, these fairy garden mushroom stools and table are perfect for impish parties.

There's room for a puppy or two in this living roof, hobbit hole dog house.

Adding to the garden's illusion is some artificial turf under foot.  No lawn mower required to be carried up to the second story.  It will be easy to keep up with the occasional sweeping.
I have yet to enjoy the space at night when I can see the full effect of the twinkle lights and the LED fireflies I hid.  I'll be curious to see if I can capture the garden by camera at night.  If I can, I'll post those pics too.

So, who's ready for a fairy, imp, gnome party?  Non-Twitter trolls are welcome too...ha! 

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