Project: Rooftop penthouse planting scheme for a luxury Sunshine Coast resort.
Client: Pelican Waters Resort, 38 Mahogany Dr, Pelican Waters QLD 4551
Landscaper: Wild Earth Scapes – Jamie Ellis.
Product: Milano Concrete Low Round, Milano Concrete Trough, Florence Concrete Cube.
Challenge: Bringing lush, resort-quality greenery to a large exposed rooftop penthouse — without compromising on aesthetics, safety, or wind resilience.

Above It All: A Penthouse Rooftop Worth Showing Off

Perched atop Pelican Waters Resort on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, this penthouse rooftop terrace is exactly the kind of space that demands exceptional outdoor design. The views are extraordinary — coastal lowlands stretching to the horizon, a distant city skyline, and open Queensland sky in every direction. The terrace itself is architecturally considered: white rendered walls, louvre pergola structures, polished stone-look tiles, and a dedicated alfresco dining zone. In short, it’s a space that deserves planters to match.

The Challenge: Designing for Rooftop Conditions

Rooftop planting comes with a unique set of challenges that ground-level landscaping simply doesn’t face. Wind exposure is significantly higher at elevation, meaning plants and their containers need to be stable and robust. Full sun is relentless with no shelter from surrounding structures. And weight is always a consideration on podium-level terraces, where dead loads matter.

At the same time, this wasn’t a utilitarian space — it was a luxury penthouse rooftop. The planters needed to be just as refined as the architecture around them, cohesive across the full terrace, and capable of housing vigorous tropical specimens that would thrive in Queensland’s climate year-round.

The Solution: One Cohesive Palette of Sigma Planters

Jamie Ellis of Wild Earth Scapes selected several complementary products from the Sigma range — all finished in the same grey concrete tone — to create a unified material language across the rooftop: the Milano Concrete Low Round, the Milano Concrete Trough, and the Florence Concrete Cube.

The Milano Low Round does a lot of the heavy lifting here — both literally and figuratively. Its wide, low, bowl-shaped profile is ideally suited to rooftop use: low enough not to catch wind, heavy enough to stay planted, and wide enough to anchor a mature frangipani with room to spare for underplanting. Multiple Milano Low Rounds are deployed across the terrace — some along the perimeter framing the views, others positioned centrally to divide and define different entertaining zones.

The Florence Concrete Cubes bring vertical structure and a sharper architectural line to contrast with the rounded Milano forms. Planted with tall, striking Euphorbia specimens and finished with the same dark polished river pebbles as the rounds, they punctuate the terrace wall with confident, upright presence.

The Milano Concrete Trough bridges the two — its long, low, rectangular form sits comfortably between a pair of Florence Cubes along one terrace wall, planted with low-growing succulents and grasses. The combination of horizontal trough and flanking vertical cubes is a classic, well-balanced landscaping arrangement that looks considered and intentional.

The Planting Scheme: Tropical, Hardy, and Resort-Ready

The planting throughout is as thoughtful as the planter selection. Frangipani (Plumeria) serves as the hero plant in the larger Milano Low Rounds — a classic Queensland choice that thrives in full sun and handles wind exposure well once established. Each frangipani is underplanted with Tradescantia in vivid purple, pink, and cream variegation, creating a lush, resort-style palette that pops beautifully against the grey concrete. The other planting selections are Euphorbia and Oleander which are also hardy and drought-resistant in their own rights.

Notably, supporting pillars are also installed to anchor the frangipani — a practical necessity in an exposed rooftop environment where wind movement could otherwise disturb a young tree’s root system.

Dark polished river pebbles are used consistently as a top dressing across all planters — a finishing touch that reads as deliberate and premium, while also serving the practical purpose of moisture retention and weed suppression.

Outcomes: A Rooftop Transformed

The result is a rooftop terrace that feels genuinely resort-quality — lush, cohesive, and beautifully finished. The planters work across multiple zones of the space simultaneously: framing the breathtaking panoramic views, softening the visual impact of necessary rooftop infrastructure like air conditioning units and antenna towers, dividing the terrace into distinct entertaining areas, and adding the kind of tropical colour and life that makes an outdoor space feel truly inviting.

Jamie Ellis reports that the client is very happy with the outcome — a sentiment that’s easy to understand looking at the transformation. What was a large, open expanse of tile and render has become a layered, green, resort-quality retreat with real personality.

Why These Planters Work for Rooftop Projects

Rooftop projects are a particular area of strength for Sigma’s concrete range. The Milano and Florence lines are classified as GRC (Glassfibre Reinforced Concrete) — meaning they offer the sophisticated look and feel of solid concrete at a fraction of the weight. This matters enormously on podium-level terraces where structural load limits are a real constraint. To dive deeper into the concepts and analyses necessary for rooftop projects, check out our Full Guide on Rooftop Planter Installations.

The Sigma Planters ranges are also UV-resistant and weatherproof – engineered to hold their colour and finish through Queensland’s extreme sun, wind, and rain cycles without fading, cracking, or deteriorating. And because they’re available in consistent finishes across multiple form factors — rounds, troughs, cubes — they make it easy to create the kind of cohesive, multi-product installation seen here without anything looking mismatched.

All Sigma planters come with a standard 3-year warranty, extendable to 5 years — backing the kind of long-term performance that a high-end installation like this demands.