The designers understood the risk. The city waited with baited breath. Would one of the largest living roofs flourish or flop? Well, the answer is somewhere in-between:

It's been three years since the green roof was planted on Vancouver's new convention centre.

Is it a success? Is it as good as they promised it would be?

The answer is that some parts are terrific -- attractive, quality planting; a beautiful habitat for songbirds and insect life.

But other areas are untidy, scrubby, a bit of a mess; you might even say, an eyesore, and a fair ways from what they could or should be.

Overall, the roof is more a success than a flop, but there's definitely room for improvement, so the designers should not spend too much time patting themselves on the back. There's still some refining work to do.

Covering 2.4 hectares (just over six acres), it is still the largest living roof in Canada and the largest non-industrial green roof in North America.

But being 10 storeys above ground, you can't see much of it from street level, say from outside the Fairmont Pacific Rim at Canada Place.

The roof is mostly visible to people working in adjacent highrise office blocks, such as the Shaw Tower, or living in luxury condos opposite.

Read more at the Vancouver Sun.