How to select planters for your rooftop garden?

While some people are turning towards rooftop farming,  many of us are just curious about converting our empty, barren terraces into more desirable spaces. Thus, creating a rooftop garden can be an innovative way to create a space for yourself that will give you the ‘me time’. This space for you and your family will not only allow you to relax from your fast-paced life but also serve as a place to meditate or even write a blog while getting your creative juices flowing. While some of our readers are avid gardeners, many of them are new gardening enthusiasts. Hence, even if the title of this blog is about selecting perfect planters, we will walk our readers through some of the basics of rooftop gardening.

The Perfect Mix

For the indoor and outdoor plants, it’s possible to use the garden soil in planters. However, a rooftop garden demands outdoor planters to be placed at terraces and balconies. This puts a restriction on the weight of the planters. Hence, for rooftop gardens, a special mix is used instead of plain garden soil. This is to keep the weight of planters at the lower end. The reduced weight makes planters very portable and those can be moved very easily. At the same time, we can keep more plants without worrying about the load on the terrace. The most common method to prepare this mix is to take equal proportions of garden soil, vermicompost, and cocopeat. This mixture allows higher aeration for the plants as compared to the garden soil and helps to keep the plants healthy.

Planters

For day-to-day use, gardeners use grow bags. These are high-density polyethylene bags with thicknesses up to 150 microns. These bags come in colours like green and black. Textile fibre bags are popular among vegetable growers, whereas aluminium trays are preferred for large-scale planting. The common thread among all these options is that all of them lack greatly in the visual appeal. If your priority is a perfect blend of aesthetics and functionality, then FRP planters are an answer to your search. These decorative planters are made up of Fibre Reinforced Polymer, hence the name FRP. The strong composition of reinforced polymers provides strength and durability to Bonasila’s planters and makes them capable of withstanding sunlight and rain.

You are choosing planters for your solitude place. So, colours projecting happiness, high functionality, and aesthetic beauty that will bring positive vibrations are the key features to aim for your planters. Bonasila is a one-stop place for all your searches for a perfect planter.

• Plants and Complimenting planters

Finalizing a list of plants for your rooftop garden can be really confusing unless you are a master gardener. So, to help you out, we have summarized a few plants which can bring beauty and positive energy to your rooftop garden. These categories of plants will allow you to choose from different varieties and a diverse range of plants.  We have also recommended our outdoor planters that can help you to enhance the natural beauty of plants.

• Windbreakers and Wall Plants

Golden Bamboo is weather-resistant and at the same time adds stunning beauty to your garden. These tall bamboos visually separate the garden space and create an illusion of a wall, while serving as a windbreaker. Their shadow reduces the intensity of sunlight helping smaller shrubs to grow. Hence, golden bamboo is a must-have living wall for your retreat space. Rezel is the most suited host planter, to plant bamboo plants in a row. We recommend Rezel 36 and Rezel 48 to bring life to your garden wall. Clerodendrum inerme or Vilayati Mehandi is another windbreaker that will go well with Rezel.

Palm plants can survive well in tropical conditions and hardly need any special care. Bonasila’s Escon compliments with edgy leaves of a palm tree. You can choose from Escon 18 and Escon 24 models based on the variety of your Palm tree. The prismatic edges of Escon catch the attention of symmetry lovers. If you are an admirer of symmetric shapes, you will find the planter Conza D equally fascinating.

Plants like Weeping Fig (or Pukar in Hindi) can be grown easily in Indian conditions with little care. This plant can grow up to 30 meters tall and eliminates the toxic gases around you. You can style this plant with our Altami planter. Once again, as per the desired height of your plant, you can choose from the different sizes of this evergreen planter.

• Flowers

Flowering plants like Periwinkle (Sadafuli), Marigold are often the first priority of gardening enthusiasts. Bougainvillaea spectabilis and Creeping Roses bring vibrant colours to your garden. Bonasila’s planters like Ovalio and Torta can brighten the inherent beauty of these plants.

Hibiscus allows you to choose from several shades and variants. This plant is inherently weather-resistant in nature. While each of these flowering plants is beautiful in its own way, we believe every garden is incomplete without a Rose plant which is the King of flowers. We recommend opting for Vertical shaped planters like Nivoli, Rezel D or Vonny as per the theme and ambience of your garden.

• Shrubs 

Ixora Dwarf, Panama Rose, Hydrangea, Nerium oleander, or Kaner are some of the low-maintenance shrubs that can grow without much care. However, if you have kids at home, do avoid Kaner as it is highly poisonous. Bonasila’s Bucciro, Aldero, and Circo look great with all kinds of shrubs.

• Decorative plants

Money plant, Syngonium, Spider Plant, Snake Plants, Jade Plant, Peace lily, Devils Ivy, Dracena, Ponytail Palm, Adenium are the wide variety of plants which you can choose to complement the needs of your rooftop garden.

You should study the local weather conditions and find out which plants can grow in your vicinity in the most natural way. Many of the exotic plants have adjusted really well to Indian conditions and can bring a sense of diversity to your rooftop garden.

Atia & Pento are our favourites for this segment. However, the sky is the only limit for your creative acumen and imagination. Hence, feel free to go through Bonasila’s wide range of planters which

Colours and Textures of planters

The colours have the power to significantly impact your mood and energy. Vincent Van Gogh believed that the yellow colour represented the Sun. Thus, this colour is associated with energy. Red is associated with boldness whereas Green is the representation of nature. Black and Grey colours often used to represent neutrality, elegance, and professionalism. For a really long time, most marketing companies in the world are utilizing these proven facts to market their products. With a little research, you can also decide the theme and appearance of your rooftop garden. Have a word with your partner or family members to decide the kind of emotion that you are trying to recreate with your rooftop garden. Our team of designers at Bonasila has given deep thought to these factors to bring colours that project happiness. You can experience this with a simple walkthrough through our planter gallery.

Layouts using the planters

The layouts of rooftop gardens vary according to the shape of the building. Hence we advise you to study the available layout of the terrace. Planting the windbreakers and tall plants at the border can help to bring a sense of privacy to space. Most gardeners use Bonasilas’ Rezel planter at the borders, because of its long length. However, if you are planning to place plants at adequate distances, you can use different planters as per the availability of the space. You can also read about which plants require special attention and care, and plan the layout accordingly. For example, some shrubs can grow well in the shadows of tall plants. Placement of flowering plants like Hibiscus, Marigold, Zinnia, Cosmos, Cripping Roses naturally attract honeybees and help in the growth of flowering plants. Hence, it becomes important to consider these factors before finalizing the layout of your rooftop garden.

Life becomes much more fun when we start enjoying the journey instead of worrying about end results and destinations. We want you to do the same with your very own and very special rooftop garden. It is a process that you will enjoy. Right from envisioning the garden to actually bring it to reality, you will learn at every stage. If you feel an urge to share your experiences, please feel free to do so in a comment section.

If you think that this article helps you to get started, we wish you all the best to bring your dream rooftop garden to reality.