Four stories above the sidewalk, on the roof of the Lofts on Main, a garden flourishes under the harsh summer sun.
Initially, the apartment building in the heart of downtown Peekskill had unremarkable rooftop features. It was a common area with a small patio table, two chairs, and a few sporadic planters. Four years later, it’s become one of the more unique ways to enjoy the cityscape, the picturesque sunrises and sunsets in a relative oasis.
As the summer marches on, the rooftop is currently sporting a crop best suited for long, hot days. Strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, flowering tobacco, bee balm, tiger lilies, basil, mint, sunflowers and more dot the boundaries of the roof.
The curators of this garden are all tenants of the Lofts on Main— Jane Blackstone, Monique Michaels, Nancy Wareham-Gordon, and Katerina Spilio. Together, they’re figuring out what will and won’t grow on the sun-soaked, east-west rooftop.
Blackstone, president of the group Friends of the Rooftop Garden, said a lot of trial and error went into the mix of plans for the garden. “The rooftop receives a lot of sunlight with the sunlight shining on the western end in the morning hours, and [in the] afternoon, it would be very strong at the eastern end,” said Blackstone. “As a beginning gardener, I had to learn about which plants liked the morning sun, which plants could stand the intense heat of the afternoon sunlight, and so on.”
While showing off her portion of the garden, Blackstone lists the names of plants and their ideal growing conditions without a second thought. She also recalls how the plants have fared over the seasons. “Heliotrope likes mostly shade,” she said as an example, “If you put it somewhere else, it gets burned, and up here, plants get burned.”
Growing any plant is a labor of love, and this year there’s been an extra emphasis on the “labor” for the rooftop crew. The rooftop wasn’t designed with a water connection, and the gardeners have had to get creative.
In the past, they were able to run a hose from the roof, down a stairwell, and into a maintenance closet a few floors below. This summer, Blackwell has to carry water in twelve one-gallon containers and jugs to keep things from withering on the vine. Depending on the heat, she sometimes makes two trips, 24 gallons, moved manually in one day.
Michaels, in between trimming her plants, estimated that last year, the gardeners collectively went through hundreds of gallons of water a day, all largely brought up by hand. She didn’t mince words when describing the situation.
“We need a solution for water up here.”
To her credit, Blackstone doesn’t seem too daunted by the water issue. She speaks and shows pictures of her plants while beaming with pride, as she well should. Blackstone’s also hopeful that more buildings in the city will incorporate green space on the rooftops. From where she waters her plants, she can spot other buildings where she thinks a garden would flourish.
