Florida Permaculture Chicken Coop From Recycled Materials

Survival Garden Chicken Coop Constructed From Salvaged Materials

Sustainability is based on a large part in the practice of recycling and reuse of all materials.  

We were fortunate to be gifted with some used roofing tin and scrap wood from a local truss builder.

The hens feel right at home!

All it needs now is a #Greenroof and stormwater catchment system :)

Florida Native Plant Art & Poetry (Green Roof Plant too!), Shiny Blueberry, Vaccinium myrsinites

Florida Nature Haiku for Friday morning, Shiny blueberry, Vaccinium myrsinites

Florida Haiku, Shiny blueberry, Vaccinium myrsinites by Kevin Songer

...

I always wondered
bout shiny blueberry’s taste,
rabbit got there first

...

Shiny blueberry is a diminutive member of the blueberry family offering winter seasonal beauty with its namesake bright and shiny red and green leaves. During the growing season shiny blueberry is usually obscured by taller growing plants. Shiny blueberry produces large amounts of fruits sought after by small mammals, birds and other foragers. I see shiny blueberry growing along most trails hiked.

Shiny blueberry makes a good evergreen & salt tolerant green roof & landscape plant too!

Green Roofs, Wildflowers and Native Plants

Rooftops offer a new way to showcase the wonder of Florida's native plants.

Urban Green.  Wildflowers on the roof offer a new perspective in which to consider native plants

Living roofs, planted with native wildflowers provide many benefits, including;

• cleansing of stormwater
• creation of habitat for pollinators, birds, and even wildlife
• fix nitrogen and other nutrients
• scavenge carbon and CO2
• reduce heat island effect
• attenuate stormwater runoff
• create a sense of place

and so much more.

Native Plant Green roofs are amazing!

Urban Green With Simple Living Walls and Green Roofs

As I deal with a chronic cardiovascular disability that could end my life at any moment I have lots of time to reflect on Urban Green.

Simple Florida livingwall with plants grown into base fabric & attached to wire frame.

With a 24% heart output function I tire easily and so am either in a chair or bed most of the time.

Fortunately my mind whirls around Urban Green Concepts.  Especially after midnight when my mechanical heart parts end up making such a loud racket!

So I am going to try and push out these ideas for others to take and run with.

I've tried this before and usually fatigue gets the best of me.  Considering fatigue and long, detailed posts I am going to shift gears and go to shorter, frequent posts.  We shall see.

Firstly I recommend understanding of immediate environment, simplicity and use of native plants.

You must know the immediate environment if you expect to create an ongoing ecosystem capable of surviving in the environment.

Second forget the bells and whistles.  Simplicity is best.  Mimic nature if you can.

Finally though exotic landscape plants make great temptations for green roof and living wall use, your best bet is to use local native species.

OK.  Thats a start.  More #greenroof and #livingwall notes tomorrow.

Rabbit on a Stick, Green Roofs, Fresh Fertilizer & Florida Permaculture

My green roof friend in France once suggested a good way to eat rabbit is on a stick with mustard.  It sounds good, 

but I've never tried rabbit on a stick.

Florida Permaculture Garden's Jack Rabbit in his Green Roofed Pen

However in the Florida Permaculture Garden rabbits played an important permaculture role.  The bunnies provided us

with some of the most potent, ready to use fertilizers.

Ruby the Rabbit, Florida Permaculture Garden

In the Permaculture Garden, rabbits are one of the easiest livestock animals to keep.  They are quiet (except when a 

predator is around), their poo is ready to use without the required cooling off period normally associated with chicken 

manure, they are tasty and reproduce at lightening speeds.

Permaculture Green Roof for Rabbit Pen under construction

Our rabbit hutch has a vegetated roof.  Simple permaculture concepts.  Rabbits eat clipped forage off their green roof,

rabbits grow, rabbits poo, we use the rabbit poo to fertilize and grow more plants on the rabbit hutch green roof, 

rabbits produce more rabbits and green roof plants feed the babies.

Rabbit forage on the Pen's Green Roof

Perfect perpetual motion machine.  Almost.

Fortunately, the rabbit hutch green roof was not expensive.  In fact, the hutch was built with only recycled stormwater 

panels, used felt material, wood scraps, old tin sheets and some chicken wire left over from the hen coop.

Remember, for green roofs on the cheap - structure, soil media and proper plants!

The rabbits loved their 'green' coop and the living roof kept them cool during the hot summer months.

We had the very best permaculture fertilizer one could have, a gift from the rabbits in return for their 'green' digs.

Florida Permaculture Garden's Green Roof Rabbit Pen makes for happy & hoppy bunnies

Much the way many living wall designers use felt or a non-woven geosynthetic, I rolled and inserted the felt fabric 

into the stormwater panels for a base growing platform.  The panels were placed atop a standard piece of roofing tin 

over wooden rafters above the rabbit cages.

Simple piece of tin covers the pen rafters under the DIY green roof system

The purpose for using the 50mm stormwater panels was to give the living roof a structural dimension, one that would 

place the weight of the green roof over the stronger outside pen supporting walls rather than on the rafters.

A reused gutter drain served as a green roof crown cap

Once the felt was embedded, rabbit poo, leaves and compost was added to the panels.  Garlic, rye and  other forage 

plant seed was added.  Soon the roof was green with tempting bunny forage.  The felt acted to wick water across the 

roof,  provided oxygen, drainage and a structural grid for roots to attach to.

Green roofs don't have to be expensive.  Think - support, innovative soil platform and proper plants.

As for the rabbits, I'm a vegan so I'll stick with collecting poo pellets for fertilizer!

Why Florida Green Roofs Are So Environmentally Important

Here in Florida surface water can directly flow into the drinking aquifer below the ground in many places.  Here is a video of storm water flowing down into the ground through a karst connection to underground caverns after a recent rainfall event.

Cleaning rainfall runoff with green roofs and other urban greening projects before the stormwater reaches our drinking water supplies makes good sense.

Avoidance of pesticides, herbicides and lawn fertilizers and chemicals is good not only for our environment but also supports a cleaner and healthier place to live in.

A Florida Green Roof that Failed Over and Over Again - Missed Opportunity

Green roofs in Florida must be designed for a very unique set of rooftop variables.  Time and time again I see marvelous, well designed growing systems that work most everywhere else in the U.S. fail in Florida.

The first failure.  Check out the sprinkler erosion patterns in the green roof soil media.

Beware.  A successful Florida green roof is usually based not on the growing system.  Successful Florida Green Roofs are all about the rooftop plant design.  Other than hurricane resiliency and wind uplift issues, the green roof growing system could be a simple vertical coquina stone wall and with the right plants, be green and beautiful year around.

Remnants of the sedum plants that once covered the roof.  More irrigation erosions visible in the soil media.

I do not understand why this concept is so hard to understand by some.  But hopefully we can all learn from these 'hard' lessons.

Sedums work great north of Atlanta generally speaking.  The black death fungus commonly known as Southern Blight, Sclerotium rolfsii, that is pervasively present here in the Sunshine State, apparently wiped out the entire rooftop planting in a matter of weeks.

During hot, wet summer months, Southern Blight will turn many succulents to mush.  Want to learn more about this 'ScleROTium'?  Read more here.

Here in Florida there are a few 'constants' in green roofing design.  The underlying roofing assembly should keep the building water tight.  The entire roofing assembly and green roof system should be fire rated.  Additionally, the roof and green roof growing system should be wind uplift and tropical storm resilient.

A coquina rock wall can satisfy most of these requirements.  What I am trying to say is that here in Florida green roof plants can grow in any growing system installed on a roof.

What matters most is the type of plants chosen and how they interact with primary and secondary design variables.

The 10,000 square foot, green roof system shown here was a installed on the Aloft Hotel in Jacksonville, Florida by a well known national roofing company with a marvelous green roof line of products.

It has failed and failed and failed and was finally removed.

After the first attempt, perennial peanut, Arachis glabrata, was tried as a rooftop cover.  This design too was a failure. 

Such a waste of a beautiful green roof system.

Note the perimeter dead zone on the roof soon after the second round of plants were installed on the roof.  Within a short time the perennial peanut took off, but so did the Bidens app, Goldenrod, Dog-fennel, Ragweed, Pokeberry and extremely tall 'weeds'.

Hoses were draped over the edge of the roof to supply lots of water to plants destined to failure from day one.

Whirly bird sprinklers were set up on the roof but in the end did not save the plants, rather they contributed to washing out the soil media and atomizing-spraying what smelled like reclaimed irrigation water all over the swimming pool and garden patio area below.

Florida has the deadly seven H's.  Plants must be designed around each of them.

Hot summer, relentless photoactive radiation and no matter how much irrigation was applied the chosen plants dried up and turned brown.

This roof not only failed multiple times but also presented a serious liability and safety issue.  With rooftop temperatures approaching 150 degrees F, an afternoon breeze laden with a single cigar ash could have turned the entire structure into a great big torch.

Sometimes a green roof designer will mistake 50 inch annual rainfall amounts for being spread evenly over  four seasons.  Here in Florida it is not uncommon to see ten, twelve or sixteen week droughts without a single drop of rain.  

Again, the roof and growing system here are first class.  But in Florida, a successful green roof is designed around the plants.

I recommend talking to a nursery specializing in green roof plants.  Most nurseries know what drought tolerant plants to install on the ground, and the peanut might have worked well at the hotel site on the ground.

Yet, rooftop ecology needs are nowhere near the same as ground level landscape requirements.  Leaf surface temperature differences can be as high as 80-90 degree F greater on the roof than on the ground.  Find a green roof nursery specializing in green roof plants that has worked for years in your area.

Dead green roofs are fire hazards

Wind too can have so much more impact on the roof than on ground level.  Perennial peanut's success on the ground is due to a hyper-fast photosynthesis rate and biomass creation.  The plant grows fast and covers the ground quickly.  However because the plant does not possess significant spatial or time based separation and protection of the Calvin Cycle processes, roof level heat and wind can pull the water out of the plant faster than the vascular system can resupply.

Maybe as soon as rains started the plant may have 'greened' up (possibly), yet during the dry periods an unacceptable and serious fire hazard existed.

The landscaper had previous success with peanut on the ground.  But a Florida roof is unlike the ground.

Florida green roof design is all about the plants and not so much about the system.

Note too that because there is no handrail system, personal fall protection device attachments would have to be installed to protect maintenance workers.

Maintenance on a green roof should only be done by staff trained for working on a roof with personal fall protection equipment.  Never allow a landscaper on a roof unless they are properly trained and equipped with safety gear, including a hardhat, safety glasses, high visibility vest and personal fall protection gear for starters.

But even with the proper maintenance procedures and awesome green roof planting bed, someone never figured out that  it is 'all about the plants'.

Nice green roof system plus wrong plants equals dead green roof planting.

The fort in St. Augustine, Castillo de San Marcos, is built with solid coquina rock walls, continually buffeted by strong salt laden winds and exposed to intense sunlight.  But the walls support over fifty species of plants.  No soil media and no added irrigation.  Over time populations of native plants have made their self at home.

Castillo de San Marcos plant's teach us that here in Florida it is not so much about the rooftop growing system.  It is not so much about the soil media, although the wrong soil media will not support long term growth.  It is all about Right Plant Right Place on the green roof.

So if you want to design a Florida Green Roof you can learn via trial and failure over the years, or work with a plant person who understands rooftop ecology.

We are presenting a series of design articles covering the basics of rooftop plant design.

So follow our green roof modeling discussion on the Greenroofs.com website under their Tropical Green Roofs Section.  Part one of the discussion was published a couple months ago.  Part two of the design discussion is coming soon.

The green roof has been removed.  What an amazing opportunity missed.

And for a quick revisit of the seven H's check out some of the other posts about designing Florida Green Roofs.

Once more, Green roofs in Florida are harsh places – remember the 7 (or more) H’s:

• High Humidity
• Hot, hot heat
• High desiccating winds (killer)
• Hurricanes (not the football team)
• Hard Freezes
• Horrible temperature swings
• Hurtful droughts
• Harmful floods

The green roof planting system installed above was really amazing.  But forcing those plants though they may grow great elsewhere in the states, that are not suited for the 7H's, on a Florida green roof was not the right approach.

Then hiring a landscaper without a rooftop background to try and remedy the problem only magnified the issues leading to failure.

Thank goodness the landscapers did not fall off the roof.  Thank goodness a cigarette ash did not land on the dead vegetation.

It is not really about the system.  On a green roof, it is all about the plants.

A green roof is all about the plants.

Native Plant Patterns and Historical Rainfall Trends, Predictors of Green Roof Plant Success

Climate and weather patterns are the most significant determining factors of what plants will go on your green roof project and so, rather than turn on the TV I like to look at historical weather maps.

National Weather Service's Historical Rainfall Maps

Green roof plant modeling process considers light and wind to be the two primary design variables for factors affecting green roof plants.  Sunlight relevance to green roof plants and for that matter even ground level landscape designs is usually referred to in terms of 'Photosynthetically Active (and Reactive) Radiation, or PAR.  Too much PAR and the plants can burn, desiccate and wither.  Too little PAR and the plants fail to grow.

Along with PAR is the photosynthetic pathway of the green roof plant and a host of other survival mechanisms such as photoperiodism, phototaxicity and phototropism.

Wind impact too is a design variable that must be accounted for during green roof plant layout.  Strong desiccating winds can harm green roof plants with as much severity as PAR overload.  Wind can pull so much water out of a leaf that the plant's vascular system will be overwhelmed and interestingly, no matter how much green roof irrigation is added to the planting bed, the plants still die.

Micro-irrigation usually alleviates the stresses of long droughts and so on those green roofs, available rainfall impacts may not be as much a controlling design variable (though still extremely important) as wind and light.

Still I find it very interesting to study rainfall patterns across the U.S. and across the world.  Nature has laid out and sorted the different types of vegetation across our continent in a manner relating to wind light and also according to rainfall amounts.

Yes, it is a simple and very broad generalization to say that following Mother Nature's lead supports project landscape or green roof plant potential success.  

When I look at the above map depicting historical rainfall amounts published by the National Weather Service, I see three main, broad patterns.  The Northwest and the East (red and orange areas) receive most of the rainfall across the U.S.  Broad leaf dicots and C3 monocots fill these regions.  Florida and the Central Plains (green areas) receive less than average precipitation and are vegetated with great stretches of grasslands.  Here in Florida the pine flat woods which make up much of the state are filled with C4 ground cover grasses such as the Andropogons and Sporobolis species (if you live in Pensacola though you may want to choose wetland plants for your green roof due to all the rain they have been receiving lately).  Finally, the areas depicted by the least rainfall amounts (less than 20 inches per year - light blue geographic regions) are inhabited by cacti and other succulents.

So if I were designing a green roof for an area outside of Florida I'd think of this map first.

I may or may not end up following Mother Nature's lead after examine a complicated host of other factors, including client intent and if I choose not to follow then my green roof planting design better be spot on in producing the ecology my selected green roof plants will require.

The roof is a seriously harsh place to grow plants.  Use of Mother Nature's millennia of trial and error as guidelines for selecting green roof plants is smart green roofing.  It is hard to beat local native plants on the roof or across the ground.

Beat Your Florida Green Roof Wind Impacts With Rich Coastal Biodiversity

The very best way to understand how your coastal green roof (and for that matter any green roof) will preform is to visit the site as often as possible before the plants are installed.

I always say 'wind is the biggest killer of green roof plants' and there have been many posts about wind impacts in this blog over the years, including;

• Designing a Florida Green Roof to Withstand Desiccating Winds (April 2014)
• Green Roof Dead Zones - Why Wind Breaks are Necessary (February 2011)
• Brown Green Roofs, Green Roof Forensics (July 2011)
• and so many more

Wind and light are two of the most important green roof design variables.  We at MetroVerde consider light and wind to be the two primary green roof design variables to take into consideration when developing ideas for a green roof.

The very best way to know whether or not wind is going to impact your project is to walk the site as often as possible, in the morning and throughout the day and in the evening.   Wind impacts fluctuate depending on a number of factors, including time of day.

Sunlight, air temperature and gradients and many other variables can influence air movement.

My teen daughter and I took a walk along the Atlantic coastal beach this morning and the and was blowing!  The pier's flag was standing straight out and whipping back and forth and we estimated the sped to be about 15 meter's per second - almost 35 miles per hour.

Most any plants are going to suffer in winds that fast and many broad leaf plants will quickly desiccate out and possibly die, especially as salt deposition from the ocean spray coats the leaves, stems and flowers.

Over the years we have worked on developing a green roof model that identifies those plant families with good wind resistance.

A wind resistant plant will possess either light-time activated or embedded spatial separation and protection mechanisms for Calvin Cycle processes.

Parapets are always preferred as wind breaks but architects sometimes develop client-directed roof plans with little or no parapets.  In those cases we must use wind resistant plants to serve as living parapets or wind breaks to the inner green roof.

Thank goodness there are many plants that can survive the vicious onslaught presented by salt spray and winds though.

Florida Green Roofs, coastal dunes are rich in biodiversity with wind and salt tolerant plants perfect for #GreenRoofs

Which ones?

The very best was to know whether or not wind is going to impact your green roof project and to find out what plants can survive these blistering winds is to regularly walk the project site.  

At first glance the coastal beaches may seem to just be 'green' with sand spurs. Ha!  Closer looks will show just how complex plant biodiversity on the beach dune actually is.  There are many, many species adapted to those wicked, punishing salty winds.

The very best was to know whether or not wind is going to impact your green roof project and to find out what plants can survive these blistering winds is to regularly walk the project site. 

Time to go for a walk.

How Florida Green Roofs are Born - an Idea and a Sketch

Where does one start on a green roof project?  For me it is with an idea then a rough sketch.

Florida Green Roof ideas start with a client's idea, then to a sketch. Great projects start with a simple idea.

 Many times the first sketch creates more ideas and those thoughts open more doors to expanded imagination.

Sometimes the idea may be shelved, but I suspect never forgotten.  Once an idea is created the concept has been released to the universe and could be around for a very long time.

Fabulous art deco building in the planning process for rehabilitation.

This building will be a health food, yoga and coffee shop in the near future.  The owner desires to incorporate vertical green.  We start with an idea and a sketch.

Some of the first issues we discuss include:

• Structural capabilities (the roof is reinforced concrete)
• City permitting requirements for landscape and stormwater
• Wind exposure
• Sun intensity
• Budget
• Maintenance
• Theme
• Adjoining buildings, and
• so much more

But all journeys start with an idea.  Like a seed, the first thought grows and begins to take root.  Soon new forms appear.  Over time the creation matures, one step at a time, beginning with an idea.

My advice to all green roof and living wall designers is, "dream and let ideas flow".

Antique Louis Philippe Rose on the Green Roof

Check out the antique Louis Philippe rose blooming atop the Breaking Ground Contracting green roof in Jacksonville! @greengcjax

 

Florida Green Roof antique roses

 

Aptenia cordifolia, tropical green roof plant

Aptenia cordifolia aka ice plant or baby rose plant is a native to the southern Africa geographic region. Aptenia is a beautiful, drought tolerant tropical green roof plant and does well in some Florida environments however the green roof designer should be aware that high humidity loving fungus or below freezing temperatures may very quickly decimate an Aptenia green roof planting. Despite these issues, Aptenia is a lovely non-native horticultural specimen that will turn heads. I would use this drought tolerant plant sparingly on tropical green roofs and only in areas needing significant color splash. When used appropriately she offers significant eye appeal!

 

Posted with Blogsy

MetroVerde's Biodiverse Green Roof. Extensive, Lightweight, Hurricane Designed Green Roof for Urban Core.

Biodiversity in the Urban Core can be truly supported by Green Roofs.  Here the Breaking Ground Green Roof has over two hundred different species of wildflowers, herbs, vegetables and plants, attracting pollinators, amphibians, reptiles and birds. 

MetroVerde Green Roof at Breaking Ground Contracting #Florida-Green-Roof

MetroVerde Green Roof at Breaking Ground Contracting #Florida-Green-Roof

The BGC Green Roof treats and cleans stormwater, mitigates Urban Heat Island effect, sequesters carbon dioxide, fills the air with fresh oxygen, affords educational opportunities and so much more.

MetroVerde Green Roof at Breaking Ground Contracting #Florida-Green-Roof

The BGC Green Roof is a MetroVerde Green Roof, a very light weight system tested by the University of Florida under tropical storm and hurricane force winds with the large wind turbine testing equipment located within the Civil Engineering Department at UF.

MetroVerde Green Roof at Breaking Ground Contracting #Florida-Green-Roof

 The roof shown here has been in existence for approximately four years and is applied directly over white TPO roofing.

MetroVerde Green Roof at Breaking Ground Contracting #Florida-Green-Roof

 Hopefully we will see more and more Green Roofs within the Urban Core as the worth (economic, ecological and social) of sustainable design becomes more and more apparent.

MetroVerde Green Roof at Breaking Ground Contracting #Florida-Green-Roof

Tropical and Coastal Green Roof Design with Native Plants, MetroVerde Design Video

Green Roofs are complicated enough to design and build.  But those affected by salt spray and tropical storms are even more intricate and possibly problematic. 

Watch Part One of our Design Video for Coastal and Tropical Green Roofs.  Each part is approximately thirty minutes and will focus primarily on selection and layout of native plants for coastal Green Roofs.  Part Two will be available for viewing later this weekend.

Nature's Living Wall, Another Native Example

I am always amazed with how Nature can design simple but beautiful living walls.  Yesterday I was walking in the Suwannee River State Park and happened upon violets growing out of a cypress root.

Viola sp., Nature created living wall, vertical green

Nature takes the simplistic approach sometimes and creates stunning beauty with amazing complexity.  The old cypress tree's root crevice was no more than a few inches deep and a few inches wide, filled with nothing but sharp, washed river sand; yet the violets were growing in such a happy manner.

Bird droppings had provided a small amount of organic matter such as nitrogen and the like.

The crevice was exposed to moderate sunlight yet was shaded enough to keep the violets from becoming too dried out or desiccated.

Though usually considered an annual plant, native violets may do very well in vertical green applications, especially where shade is involved, even surpassing many other living wall plants in durability under some situations.

I always learn so much from nature.  And importantly, most times nature teaches us about crucial design issues on an incremental basis.  Learning what plant grows best how in what media from looking around as you experience everyday life is   one of the best methods of understanding living wall and green roof design.  One does not have to walk beneath the great constructed living walls of the world to learn about successful vertical green design (though it helps).  Nature too, can teach us incrementally through her selection and use of plants we see appearing in the cracks of walls, on the tops of buildings, across bridges and even growing out of hot asphalt pavements.

You see, nature has first created all plants; from simple crevice growing violets to those in the beautiful man-assembled living walls.

Learning from the original teacher is the best way to learn.

Native Wildflowers for Florida Green Roofs

Enjoy this photo from my archive of the Breaking Ground Green Roof!  Florida native wildflowers are in bloom, including; Gaillardia, Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Muhly grass, Mimosa, Yucca and more! :)

Florida Wildflowers on a Green Roof!

Nature's Living Wall, Fifty Species in Coquina Stone, Castillo de San Marco

Native plants play an important role in supporting worldwide biodiversity heritage, and offer an awesome opportunity to explore history.  Weaving history into present green roof technology is one of the most exciting aspects of touring historic places like St. Augustine, Florida.

I always love exploring the Castillo de San Marcos structure on the banks of St. Augustine inlet, just north of the Bridge of Lions.

Though not what you would expect, one of the many ways to learn about native plants on the fort park property is to 'look up'.  This week I spent several hours walking in the moat of the old Spanish Fort in St. Augustine.  Plants grow all over the rough coquina shell stone wall.

In my opinion the National Park Service has it backwards - they charge for going inside the fort but allow you to walk for free in the moat and around the grounds.  The moat is where you can see many, many native and other plants species growing in the coquina walls!

Castillo de San Marco, St. Augustine

As you can see in the above photo, most plants grow underneath the downspouts on the walls. Though the downspouts provide water primarily when it rains, they also collect dew and fog from surrounding areas and funnel the water to the plants.

Interestingly, learning about green roof and living walls plants from the fort offers insight into those plants that not only do well under the hot Florida sun and with no additional irrigation, but also the plants shed light on soil media composition.

Coquina shell and the limestome mortar have a quite high pH level.  High pH is usually one of the toughest issues to work with on green roofs and living walls.

If you are looking for native plant species that thrive and survive under harsh conditions such as; relentless sun exposure, salt spray, hot desiccating winds, heavy frosts, hurricanes without irrigation other than rainfall, then plan a trip to Castillo de San Marcos, or other similar stone structure.

It is amazing just how many different species can be found growing vertically, forming amazing living walls.  Park staff have identified over fifty different plant species growing in the coquina stone walls!  What an awesome living wall created by nature!

Samolus valerandi

Pteris vittata & 2 Cuban anoles

Wildlife seeks out plants, especially those providing resource benefit such as food or nectar or shelter.  Native plants are best suited at providing the most optimum level of ecological benefit to those wildlife endemic to an area.

In otherwords, planting native plants on green roofs and living walls encourages and supports native populations of insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians and other wildlife.

Many popular landscape plants used on green roofs may not offer the same level of resource benefit.

Learning about your local native plants broadens design capabilities for both green roofs and living walls.

Limestone & Coquina Walls are Harsh Ecosystems

Green Roof Plant Design - Understand Heliotropism and Paraheliotropism

Understanding photosynthesis processes in green roof plants is crucial to the green roof designer and we have discussed the difference between C3, C4 and CAM photosynthesis processes in prior notes, including;

• CAM Plants for Green Roofs, Effects of Heat and of Humidity
• Adaptation and Green Roof Plants

• Green Roof Vegetables - A List of Recommended C4 Plants

   

   

   

Under Intense Sunlight Leaves Fold to Prevent Desiccation

Yet nature is complicated and does not limit herself in resisting environmental stressor conditions to just the above three types of photosynthesis processes.  In fact, some plants have evolved other survival mechanisms to help prevent dessication and to conserve water, especially in arid and hot climates.

Some plants, and many of these are excellent species to use on Green Roofs, can move, open or close their leaves to prevent dessication.  This is commonly referred to heliotropism and paraheliotropism.

Cowpeas and other plants for example possess the ability to adjust their leaves position to either increase or decrease the amount of leaf surface area receiving direct sunlight.

Under optimal Sunlight C3 Leaves Open Widely

Under Optimal Sunlight Conditions C3 Leaves Open Widely

Heliotropism is the term used to describe a plant's actions when it orients leaves to receive more sunlight and thereby increasing photosynthesis capabilities, i.e. - more CO2 fixation.

Diaheliotropism describes a plant whose leaves actually track the sun'd path, maximizing solar contact.

Paraheliotropsim denotes a plants actions similar to the above photographs.  During paraheliopropsim, plants may fold or move their leaves to either;

• Minimize solar contact, or
• Minimize total leaf surface area,

either way reducing water loss and preventing desiccation.

Though C3 plants such as the beans - and most other of the world's food plants except the grasses, maize, and sorghum - do not possess as complicated a multi-cellular Calvin Cycle as C4 plants and are more susceptible to drought, they - through Heliotropism biomechanisms they do possess their own unique desiccation prevention mechanisms.

Green Roof designers take note!

Florida Green Roof Plants in Action

Lovely photo of an older green roof in Jacksonville ( 8+ years old ).  Note this roof is nature irrigated only and has survived several Tropical Storms, one with 23 inches ( 58 cm ) rainfall.  The roof has a 5/12 slope.

Lightweight Green Roof over sloped decking and asphalt shingles

Notice that I cut out a square of the Green Roof mat to examine the underlying waterproof barrier.   In doing so I removed the outside perimeter edges.  It is important to note that raw edges should never be left exposed to wind damage potential.

The entire system live loaded weighs less than ten pounds per square foot.

Green Roofs constructed on large commercial or institutional buildings are important, however just as important are those residential applications where existing asphalt shingles and sloped roofs can be incorporated.

Harvesting Fog and Dew for Drinking Water and Vegetable Garden Irrigation

With natural water supplies drying up and disappearing and areas affected by drought increasing in acreage every day, learning how to harvest all available atomized water from the air is important.

Alternative forms of irrigation for green roofs and living walls can sometimes be the primary irrigation source for rooftop plants.  We use air conditioning condensate and dew catchers on many of the green roofs we design.

This morning our lanai screen was covered in water droplets though there was not a cloud anywhere to be seen in the sky, a reminder of the available irrigation potential.

Dew available for Green Roof Irrigation

Additionally, a quick early morning walk through the garden offered up the opportunity to see dew droplets all across the vegetable leaves and other plants.

Dew available for irrigation in the garden

Dew can be an important source of 'free' irrigation.  Learning how to harvest the condensed water vapor is easy, as humans have been tapping this resource for ages.

Check out the TreeHugger article here for an informative look at how dew catchers provide drinking and irrigation water to some of Peru's underdeveloped areas.

Then check out an amazing YouTube video showing the construction of a DIY dew catcher!

Always consider dew as an irrigation source when designing vertical green in the Urban Core.