Ad Hoc Rooftop Garden, Brooklyn, NY

Let it be green!
The ‘back 40’ of this hidden rooftop space on a busy Brooklyn street is measured in feet and inches rather than acres, but the small green oasis serves a variety of uses – bird way-station, experimental laboratory for native species, contemplative recharging for humans, and as an entertainment center for two cats that view it from within.
The space, sheltered by low buildings on three sides, is open to an adjacent roof garden and brownstone backyards on the fourth. The once oddly configured and awkwardly sloping space covered by black asphalt roofing material became more easily maneuverable when friends installed a cedar deck. Similarly, the plants gained stability when their pots were given a cedar platform built over an obsolete skylight that had once served the ground floor.
Judith Heintz has guided the garden’s gradual evolution for a decade, mixing plants contributed by friends, and other small trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials chosen to provide seasonal interest. In the last several years, the makeup of the garden has shifted to a palette of native New York plants to better attract bees, butterflies and birds. And to keep the cats entertained, of course.