Urban Retreats: 9 Dreamy Rooftop Gardens

Written by

Nancy Mitchell
Nancy Mitchell
As a former Senior Writer at Apartment Therapy, Nancy split her time among looking at beautiful pictures, writing about design, and photographing stylish apartments in and around NYC.
updated Jul 23, 2020
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(Image credit: Sotheby’s)

There’s something so beautiful and enticing about a roof garden — a little oasis in the middle of the city, a little spot of green in the midst of the concrete jungle. We’ve rounded up ten enticing examples, from New York to Belgium, to inspire your own plantings, or maybe just your envy.

(Image credit: Sotheby’s)

This enormous rooftop terrace in Chelsea features multiple levels of plantings. From Sotheby’s, via Honestly WTF.

(Image credit: Tuin Architectuur)

This Belgian rooftop seems almost wild, a perfect place to retreat from the chaos of the city to the entirely different and more pleasant chaos of green things.

(Image credit: Gardenista)
(Image credit: Gardenista)

The designer of this Manhattan rooftop garden has intentionally embraced the “wild, overgrown feel.”

(Image credit: Inhabitat)

Night lighting gives the plantings on this NYC rooftop an otherworldly glow. From Rooftop Gardens: The Terraces, Conservatories, and Balconies of New York, via Inhabitat.

(Image credit: Goode Green)
(Image credit: Goode Green)

The designers at Goode Green created this extensive rooftop garden, which features a huge variety of plantings, including plenty of wildflowers in a meadow in the sky.

(Image credit: Homes & Gardens)

A rooftop garden in London, with rolling planter boxes for growing foodstuffs.

On this NYC rooftop, tall grasses create a visual (and auditory) break from the city.