Pulltab Design. Photography by Bilyana Dimitrova

Summer is here and that means plenty of barbecuing and cocktail sipping out in the back yard! Or, if you’re very lucky, you have a rooftop garden to lounge on. We’ve rounded up some of our most lust-worthy rooftop garden posts to make you swoon:

Photo by Norman McGrath from Rooftop Gardens: The Terraces, Conservatories, and Balconies of New York, Denise LeFrak Calicchio

1. Five Urban Gardens Fresh Ideas: What’s Been Growing, Glowing, Sowing, and Flowing
City life can be both intoxicating and exhausting. Every once in a while it’s necessary to escape into a quiet world away from the din and commotion. Take a look at these rooftop gardens in the heart of the city for a healthy dose of fresh living without ever leaving the apartment.

Photo from FastCoExist

2. Japanese Commuters Tending Train Station Rooftop Gardens
These Japanese commuters have finally figured out how to curtail the overwhelming boredom and frustration we all associate with the dreaded morning drive. Not only is this rooftop garden cleverly situated over a train station, but its vegetable inhabitants provide both soothing beauty to calm the soul and nourishment to feed the body!

Photography by Bilyana Dimitrova

3. New York City Rooftop Garden Offers Views and Privacy
If you’re fortunate enough to already live in the city and want to take advantage of the epic views it has to offer, then you’ll probably want to take a glance at this post we did a couple of years ago. A combination of specially sourced materials, water elements, plant screens and cleverly crafted niches have made this particular rooftop garden ideal for both privacy and cityscape gazing.

The Chelsea Fringe Collins. Photo via Robbie LeBlanc.

4. The Cocktail Gardener Cultivates Garden Pop-Up Bar on London Rooftop
If this isn’t the best idea of a rooftop garden we’ve ever heard of then we don’t know what is! Known as The Cocktail Gardener, Lottie Muir has made it her business to incorporate foraged herbs and flowers into her whimsical libations. Check out this posts to learn more about Muir and her concoctions at the Midnight Apothecary, one of London’s hottest pop-up cocktail bars.

Photo: Mark Roemisch

5. Tent With a View: Camping on a New York City Rooftop
Rooftop gardening not your thing? Maybe rooftop camping is more your style. Check out Bivouac, a pop-up summer campground and art project that pitches its tents on secret city rooftops. If your desire is to escape the rush of the city for a night, then all you need is a sleeping bag for yourself and one food item to share with the group. Be prepared to commune with your fellow campers and enjoy all that New York City’s skyline has to offer.