Ebben Inspyrium Roof Garden Cuijk

With urbanization and climate change putting pressure on our cities, biodiversity and planting more greenery is an attractive solution. Installing more roof gardens is a good example of how to reduce heat stress in the city and create an attractive new space. When you enter this roof garden, it is hard to believe that you are on a roof. The carefully coordinated wilderness of edible plants, shrubs and trees combined with large-leaved plants and climbers feels like a welcome 'jungle'. No wonder it won the 2022 Rooftop Award for most impressive roof garden in the Netherlands.

The garden displays many different plant species. For inspiration for both customers visiting Ebben Nurseries and guests received by the event center Inspyrium, but it also shows the botanical values of plants. This roof garden can rightly be called a multifunctional space. The chosen layout and accessibility make it a perfect place for meetings, product launches, parties and other gatherings. The diversity of spaces allows several workshops at the same time. These include an outdoor bar with seating areas, a glasshouse where presentations can be made and a green seating pit good for private sessions. For smaller gatherings, a treehouse has been built that offers a panoramic view of the tree nursery with adjacent observation point in the shape of a bird's nest. Carefully chosen materials, color’s and evergreen plants make the roof garden attractive all year round and exude a pleasant atmosphere. The high density of different plant species, combined with water and an ample flowering arch make the roof attractive to birds and insects. Monitoring of this is done together with the local nature working group.

Large trees with compound leaves have been planted around the tree house and along the edges of the roof garden. Several species of trees from the walnut family (Juglandaceae) and Gymnocladus as the main species. In addition, large-leaved shrubs with hand-shaped leaves such as Fatsia, Kalopanax and Tetrapanax have been planted. The underplanting consists of various ferns, large-leaved perennials, some white- and purple-flowering perennials and the endearing grass Sesleria autumnalis. This contrast in leaf shape creates the ‘Jungle effect’.

In the central area, uncommon trees with edible fruits such as Diospyros, Zanthoxylum and Ziziphus have been planted. On the islands are evergreen ‘stones’ of Osmanthus x burkwoodii, tightly cut to give contrast to the wilder underplanting of edible herbs. 

Besides its aesthetic value, this roof also serves an experimental and educational purpose. For instance, 3-D printed benches have been installed, printed from recycled pots from the nursery. This underlines the company's sustainability and circularity. In collaboration with The Urban Jungle Project, lightweight plug-and-play trees suspended in a steel cube frame suitable for use on roofs with minimal carrying capacity have been installed. The substrate base was constructed with lightweight glass foam from which the mounds in the midpoint and along the edge were constructed. To distribute the weight of the trees, a crossed structure was made in which the trees were anchored. For plants with a preference for acid soil, a separate area has been set up with roof substrate without alkaline lava acidified with peat.