How a rooftop garden serves as a healing space for nature and humans alike

Sullivan, a volunteer who takes care of a native plant garden at the Center on Halsted in Chicago, says the rooftop oasis attracts hummingbirds, monarch butterflies and other insects. Photos: Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Three stories above a busy stretch of North Halsted Street, Chicago, in the United States, on a rooftop with views of downtown skyscrapers, crickets chirp and prairie flowers dance in the breeze.

Waist-high grasses set the tone in a sprawling 2,500sq ft (232sq m) native garden dotted with bright blooms: golden brown-eyed Susan, purple hoary vervain, yellow stiff goldenrod, snowy white turtlehead, lime-tinged spotted beebalm.