“Our rooftop gardens increase the value of a home and make our customers feel really good,” President and founder Terry McGlade says.

When Gardens In The Sky finished a recent residential project in its home base of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the homeowner remarked that his home became cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Overall, he said he “feels like I have an entirely better house,” explains President and founder Terry McGlade. Comments like this push the company to show more potential customers the benefits of installing a green roof, McGlade notes.

“Our rooftop gardens increase the value of a home and make our customers feel really good,” he says. “They get to return something to the environment, they have a better home to live in and they save money because of the energy benefits a green roof provides to a house. They realize they can’t lose with a project like this.”

The homes’ values increase because of rooftop gardens’ many environmental benefits. Green roofs can reduce the surface temperature of a roofing membrane – up to 86 degrees on hot, sunny days – which can double the life of a membrane. By acting as a natural insulation blanket, green roofs reduce heat loss and sound transmission throughout a building.

They also retain rainwater, thus reducing runoff and minimizing storm drain requirements, and cool the surrounding air, which can significantly reduce adverse heat island effects. Additionally, a green roof will absorb airborne toxins and provide additional land area. The improved aesthetic value is an extra benefit.

“There are so many options when designing a rooftop garden,” McGlade says. “We can include color, wood and stone, as well as flowers, evergreens, grasses, fountains, ponds and rock gardens. The design possibilities really are endless.”

A Design Approach
Having gained much experience from operating Perennial Gardens – a high-end residential landscaping firm – for 25 years, the founders of the company eventually created a separate business for its creation of rooftop gardens. McGlade says Gardens in the Sky adopted that moniker because it “perfectly describes” the company’s M.O.

“We aren’t just looking to plant some grasses on a rooftop and call it done,” he says. “We approach our work from a garden design aspect. We add more architectural elements because we want the roof to have aesthetic and environmental benefits.

“Our baseline may be sedums or grasses, which will take up the main footprint. But we understand that people will interact with the gardens visually or by walking in them, so we need to add different design elements to make it interesting and more beautiful.”

McGlade explains Gardens In The Sky recently completed work on a 1,500-square-foot residential property that5  was built into the side of a hill; the rooftop spanned three levels. The home was in a busy area in Toronto, so the goal of the project was to hide the house from passersby while also making it feel like it was part of the hill.

In addition to homes, the company works with schools, universities, museums and large corporations.

‘Sky’ is the Limit
Gardens In The Sky has many projects lined up. McGlade expects the company to see substantial growth for the next many years. “Next year, we will do close to $1 million of work and it will keep going this way because there is so much momentum in our industry,” he says.

“There is more interest from industrial and commercial companies, so our projects will have much bigger profiles, also. Companies are more interested in changing the patterns of global warming and by installing a green roof, they can do that without involving the government. We are going to see a lot of growth because of this.”