Design Specialties

We are very excited about rooftop gardening and the evolving rooftop living aesthetic. No longer are penthouse gardens only for the super-rich. Today many elevated surfaces can be built-out to create fantastic outdoor garden rooms and unique living spaces. A rooftop garden is both similar to, and quite different from, a traditional landscape garden. Conditions on rooftops, garage roofs, decks and terraces can be extreme, but with the proper design and selection of the rooftop components a surprising number of approaches are possible on a rooftop.

Chicago Specialty Gardens (CSG) is an award-winning, full-service urban garden design/build firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. We are specialists in the design, construction and installation of urban gardens. Our design approach envisions the transformation of entire spaces, and we employ multi-disciplinary design, project management, construction and maintenance teams to turn our vision into reality. CSG was founded by Phil Cleland in 1993 and by 1995 the company had grown and was incorporated.

In 1995 Phil established Chicago Specialty Gardens to bring together great garden design, superior materials and craftsmanship and a high level of customer service in the pursuit of creating award-winning, one-of-a-kind urban gardens. In the ensuing 24 years CSG has been extraordinarily fortunate to have been part of many fruitful collaborations with clients and colleagues, and we have much to be proud of. Phil's belief in assembling teams of creative thinkers and unconventional backgrounds and giving them much autonomy has led to a unique body of work.

As a design & build firm, we advocate strenuously for the design function at CSG. Every project on this website began with a well-crafted design; attempting to create a functional, aesthetically pleasing urban garden without a comprehensive, thoughtful plan will end in frustration for everyone. Our design process begins with a get-acquainted meeting between designer and client at the client's home. The broad parameters of the design scope are established at this meeting. A proposal outlining our fee for developing design work is provided after this meeting; if our client wishes to proceed we pick up the design fee at a scheduled date and work begins.