ROOF PARTY

WITH MORE THAN 100 CONTAINERS THRIVING ATOP HER CHICAGO TOWNHOUSE, BETHANY BEY KNOWS ALL ABOUT GROWING UP.

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WHAT PLANTS WILL THRIVE IN CONTAINERS? FOR BETHANY BEY, THE SKY'S THE LIMIT-SUNFLOWERS, GLOBE AMARANTH, RED ECHINACEA, BLACK-EYED SUSANS AND EVEN MILKWEED TO LURE MONARCHS.

On a summer morning, before she sits down to work, you'll find Bethany Bey outside her house, clipping zinnias and cosmos or harvesting raspberries for breakfast. But if you're picturing her roaming a large lawn, think again. Bey gardens entirely on a rooftop in the heart of Chicago.

She was raised in rural Indiana and inherited her green thumb from her grandfather. As an adult, she longed to cultivate a garden in the city. The dream became reality in 2019, when she and her husband, Andrew, purchased a two-story townhouse with a pair of sunny decks—the perfect canvas for her urban Eden.