Gardening newbie with a roof garden. What to plant now?

frobisher

I've just moved into a new place that has a very large private roof garden. Much of it gets the sun for most of the day and there are three waist high containers, about 4'x4' that already have soil and some stuff growing in them. I'd love to plant some herbs and veg, possibly a few ornamental plants too. Any ideas where to start at this time of year? Would walking into a garden centre and asking for pots and soil and seeds work?!! Or do I need to choose wisely to get it right?

Sonnenblumen

Good advice is to always choose plants wisely and do not be too ambitious in expecting plants unsuitable for particular environments to do well. Perhaps a 'roof area' is a very good example where conditions here can be extreme, ie very hot, wind swept, lacking shelter, frequently limited planted areas/depths etc etc. These factors can all bear heavily on your choice/options.

That said there are a range of plants available that will thrive in roof areas, some including trees may require additional/special supports until root system is adequately developed in order to anchor plants/trees in planters etc.

Some plants that I would recommend for roof terraces would include:

Buxus sempervirens (various shapes/sizes available)

Astelia Silver Spear

Pittosporum Tom Thumb

Dodonea purpurea

Phormium Jester (low growing variety)

Convolvulus cneorem

Hebe (wide range available)

Bamboo (Phyllostachys/Pseudosassa) - some shelter required
Lavender vera
[/LIST] Nandina Domestica (- some shelter required)

Ornamental Grasses including Acorus ogon, Carex Testacea, C- Evergold, Imperata, etc Herb gardens tend to do best in free draining soil conditions, sunny and therefore sheltered areas, so factor this in when selecting position and herbs.