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A rooftop garden grows a community

After two years of neglect, one Downtown Eastside resident set out to revive her building’s greenspace — and found it was bringing neighbours together, too

October 1, 2026

As I puttered about the rooftop garden, one of the more shy residents at my Downtown Eastside SRO seemed curious about what I was doing.

I asked him if he knew what a snapdragon was. He said he didn’t. I asked him to follow me.

We stopped by the crimson-coloured flowers and I asked him if he knew what made these plants cool. He said no. 

“I can make this flower look like it’s talking,” I said.

“No… ?” he said, looking confused. 

I put my thumb and forefinger around the side of the flower and gently pinched. The dragon’s mouth opened: “Hello there.” 

Buddy looked completely surprised.

“See? This flower can talk,” I said, and gave him one of the snapdragons to keep. He was soon going up to other residents telling them that he had a talking flower. 

It made me smile and it also made me realize what our rooftop garden meant to me and the other residents. Like one of those “ah-ha” moments. I wasn’t only gardening for my own enjoyment, I was doing it for others too.

My little project started earlier this summer when I was on leave from work and found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands. The building I live in has a rooftop patio and a community garden, which has been neglected for the past two years due to funding cuts. It used to be maintained and kept clean regularly by a gardener, and residents would use the space to socialize, get out their rooms and build friendships. But when the gardener left, nobody picked up the slack, and — unlike our dying garden — the costs kept growing. 

In previous summers, I’d always basked on our rooftop garden…  getting some fresh air and a suntan, and chatting with other residents. This year, I found myself up there alone, looking at the dry remnants of plants and weeds. I thought about how nice it would be to bring the garden back to life. Maybe it could also help bring people out of their rooms and give us a reason to interact again.

I went to the local Home Depot and bought five plants that could handle constant sun exposure, along with two bags of soil. I could only buy the smaller bags, because the big ones would have been too heavy for my e-scooter, which I use as my main means of travel.

When I got everything back to my building, I took them up to the rooftop garden. Before I could start planting, I had to clean up garbage, weeds and cigarette butts. Once I did, I could finally see the space and start thinking about how to fill it. 

It’s big! And much of the soil had eroded and lost its nutrients that help plants grow strong. And OK, I had my two bags, but the amount of soil I’d need to top up the whole garden would be a truck load. So I started making trips back to Home Depot. (I’ve hauled five bags so far, and I’ll keep hauling more).

For a couple hours each day, I’d pull weeds and prune the blackberry bushes, letting more light reach the greenery. As I snipped away, plants and flowers began to emerge from underneath the invasive bushes that had been taking over. 

There are lilies that bloom with big white flowers, bright and colourful gladioli, a pink rose bush and a few other hardy plants that have stood the test of time with little care. 

So far, along with my five bags of soil, I’ve added nine new plants, eight of which are thriving. I’ve spent about $250 of my own money to do it.

The garden has also had some other additions, thanks to residents in the building. There is a tomato plant, which has six tiny green tomatoes on it, some purple and white potatoes, catnip for our furry friends, a chili pepper plant, a lavender bush, sage, fennel, (which smells like black liquorice) and some sunflowers that are going to be blooming soon. 

Working on the garden seems to have motivated other folks to get more involved. I was mentioning to a resident how much the soil was lacking nutrients. She said that she has some liquid sea kelp which can be added when you water the plants. The same resident also said she had a variety of garden tools and I was welcome to borrow anytime I wanted. 

When other neighbours are interested in what’s growing, I take them on a quick tour and point out which plants are good for cooking and which are mostly for visual enjoyment. 

Before long, more people were coming up onto the patio. It was working! The residents finally had a reason to come up to the top floor, other than to smoke cigarettes. 

All in all, it’s been a great experience getting everyone into gardening. But more importantly, it’s been a way to encourage people to communicate with each other.

Since the rebirth of our rooftop garden, I’ve been gradually adding more plants and more soil to it.

I’m still not completely finished. But I’ve already had people tell me that it looks so much better than it did before I started. Hearing that makes all the time and effort feel worthwhile.

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