Plants for a roof garden

[Trainman33]

I need ideas of what plants to use since being from the USA I have no idea about what ones are here and are suitable for that setting. I also plan to put in an herb garden in an area that is shaded by a stairway. I know I want a banana tree or something like that to provide additional shade near a table with an umbrella.
I also want something like an umbrella plant and something like a kentia palm. I will have 2 planters with four different flowers of different colors.

 

[LaTeacher]

You'll need fairly large planters for any kind of tree. And a nice, nutrient rich "tierra negra" - not the bad stuff (i just edited my word six times) they sell in a bag at La Sirena. You have a few options - ask the "watchy" from your building to find you some from an empty lot close by (there used to be a ton in La Tigaiga, I don't know with all the construction there anymore), you can find a vivero a pay (no more than 50 pesos for a sack) or there's someone on the board who sells it on the North Coast.

There's a nursery on Los Rieles, above Calle 10 on the right hand side of the road, that can help you find the plants you need.
It's easy to create a roof with pvc piping and the black traping that the nurseries use (and can probably get at Bellon or Ochoa) for plants that need shade (most do, on some level)

Be careful if you've got a shared rooftop - we had some medicinal herbs on our roof and our neighbors had some drunken visitor who threw up in their pots.

 

[Trainman33]

I know someone who can make the planters once I have the plans done. I really doubt a PVC sunshade would last in the wind up there, it is actually one of the highest points in the valley not on the mountains. It is not a shared rooftop.

 

[LaTeacher]

@Trainman, you're going to need something for shade, iwas just giving some suggestions, no?

how's this project working out for you?

 

[Trainman33]

I havnt started it yet, I havnt closed on the house yet.

 

[Chip]

There is a nursery very close to your house. Go to the end of Carr. Tigaiga by my house to the end and turn left left at the light then an immediate right and at the end of the road on the right is a nursery that will have everything you want. It is less than 2 miles from your house.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Is the roof designed to handle a roof garden??

 

[LaTeacher]

Frank, thats a godo question - but I don't think he's looking to put in raised beds, just a few planters with decorative plants and some herbs. Should be fine no matter. Putting in a real garden would require something extra.

 

[AlterEgo]

Is the roof designed to handle a roof garden??

I had the same thought Frank. In NJ we live near the beach, which means small lot. Mr. AE loves to garden, and our garden area isn't huge. One year my brother was down from Long Island [his garden could feed a small army], and while sitting out on our deck he spied our detatched garage with a flat roof, and told my husband it would be perfect for a roof garden.

Well, it seems a landscaper lives near my brother, and every garbage day he puts out stacks of big black tubs from trees he's planted. So brother fills his car with them brings them down. You had to see the two of them, like little kids with new toys, filling them with dirt, planting tomatoes, and hauling them up to the roof. Mind you, they're using a step ladder to get up and down.

I think the whole town knows 'the house with the tomato plants on the roof', even though it's in the back of the house.

After a couple of years, the weight of the pots, dirt, etc., got to be too much for the roof, especially after a good rain or snow. Major sag and leaks. Two weeks ago we had to tear off the entire roof and replace everything, even the joists, plus they used 1" flooring plywood before putting down a rubber roof. I mean, there was no discussion about not putting the garden back up there.

For what we spent on that new roof, we could have bought crates of tomatoes for 100 years.

 

[Trainman33]

I will have someone look at it then..

 

[Trainman33]

I want to use artificial turf for the walkways on the roof if it is available in the DR. I don't know if there is a distributor of that product here though.

 

[Trainman33]

I am also not sure if there is a way to permanently seal the roof so that I don't have to remove everything from the roof every few years.