You could fill a hotel rooftop with deckchairs and a bar, sports equipment or clotheslines, but is there a more lovely way to do it than with a garden? As urban gardens and city horticulture take hold across all major cities, a hotel rooftop garden signifies a commitment to ‘green’ values and the environment. It can also provide your kitchen with some (very) locally grown produce. Such is the case of the Fairmont Hotel in Montreal.
In 2011, the hotel started its rooftop garden, a project that has been flowering (and expanding) ever since. The first seedlings were planted in horticulture containers, which at the end of the first year yielded 275 pounds of herbs, edible blooms and vegetables. This amount has been growing each year, helped along by larger pots, fewer varieties and expert advice from the city’s urban agricultural movement. And although guests are not permitted to visit the garden, they can taste its bounty in the hotel’s restaurant, where chef Martin Paquet incorporates the produce into dishes at the famed Beaver Club Restaurant.