Filling city roofscapes with lush foliage and nature's beauty, Jon Carloftis has found an entrepreneurial niche ó and a degree of celebrity ó as a rooftop gardener in New York City. He has designed and planted gardens for actors Edward Norton, Julianne Moore, Josh Hartnett and Mike Myers, plus Jane Lauder (granddaughter of EstÈe Lauder), and Hollywood moguls Jerry and Linda Bruckheimer. All it has taken is a lot of talent, hard work and gracious manners. And about two decades.
A native of Rockcastle County, Carloftis earned a B.A. in communications from UK but realized it wasn't his thing. He had taken some horticulture classes and, having grown up with acres upon acres of raw Kentucky scenery as his back yard, knew gardening was his calling. In 1988, he moved to the Big Apple to start his own business.
"I laugh with some of my friends in New York that are very accomplished people," he said, "because we're not over-the-top and haughty. He's never wanted to don a cape and beret or snap his fingers for minions get their hands dirty. "I'm out there doing the work as much as I possibly can