Green Roofs, Permaculture and Prepper Plants Top Ten List, Aloe vera

Aloe is one of our top ten urban core survival garden plants; grows great on Florida green roofs too!

Aloe is one of our top ten urban core survival & pandemic garden plants. We keep aloe close to the back door. For healing burns, cuts, sores or bug bites there is no better plant.

Aloe loves growing in containers and will do well planted directly in the ground too.  One of the reasons I like to plant aloe in containers is that as aloe fills the pot with roots, new plants - or pups - will begin appearing in the container.

As a container plant, aloe is perfect for patios and balconies.

For green roofs, aloe has worked very well for me.  Aloe is a CAM based photosynthesis plant so it will survive in dry or wind swept rooftop quadrants.  I like to use aloe as garden perimeter windbreak plants.

Medicinally, aloe's history as a healing plant is well documented throughout the ages.  

If you don't have aloe growing in your survival garden its time to acquire one now!

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!

Net Negative Carbon Florida Green Roof

The two photographs here show how much biomass is growing on the Breaking Ground Green Roof.  The first photo was taken May 5th, 2011.  The next photo was taken October 9th, 2011.

Green Roof, May 2011, Breaking Ground Contracting

Green Roof, October 2011, Breaking Ground Contracting

We are having a biomass harvesting party later this month where we will be calculating how much dry weight plant material is harvested and the estimated sequestered carbon.

Having a green roof pull carbon from the urban core atmosphere and pump fresh oxygen into the air is one step towards restoring the health of our cities.

For more  info on the Breaking Ground Green Roof, visit the project website here.

Finding World Peace and Defeating Hunger with low cost living architecture and green roofs

Food is so easy to grow in the harshest of places, with little of no soil and even when water supply is limited.  All it takes is a basic understanding of the important factors impacting growth, such as wind, light and available water vapor.

Though permaculture has always addressed simple food growing principles, most of the time this focus has been about ground level growing.

Growing food on walls, roofs, buildings, and shacks up off the ground is important in the crowded urban core, high rises and slums.  Ground level food production is many times impractical in cities because of the lack of open land.  But there are plenty of walls and roofs to grow food on!

We believe educating the young about how to grow 'rooftop gardens is a way to capture their interest, create economic opportunity for them, create habitat, restore ecology and bring peace to the world.

Harvesting Green Roof Seeds, Educating the children

This week we held a seed collection workshop atop the Breaking Ground Green Roof, teaching the next generation about how to identify seeds, how to collect them, how to resow the seeds and how to save them for the next season.

Young children's minds are so fresh and thinking so quickly!  They see opportunities to improve and enhance our green roofs, living walls and rooftop systems.

Offering the next generation hope through empowerment is what we need to be doing every day.  Placing control of their food and water supply into our children's hands is so important.

Making educational videos about rooftop permaculture to teach the children.

It is a path to world peace and freedom from those who may want to try and control other's lives through food and water.

And growing food and recycling water does not have to be expensive or difficult.  This is why education is so important.

But we have a fight ahead of us.  Large corporations see opportunity through control of food, water, seeds and the knowledge of how to grow food and collect water.

The 'I don't have a green thumb and can not grow food' storyline is often repeated and many of the world have come to believe they can't grow sufficient supplies of food in the urban core.

We must show our children the path to breaking reliance from those who would control our lives and souls in exchange for food and water.

A small living wall or rooftop garden can provide enough seeds in a growing season to grow five more gardens the same size the following year.  Seeds are free.

Systems can be designed to cheaply capture and store water and to grow food on even shacks made from rusty tin.

The students harvested a giant luffa sponge from the roof this week.  Organic luffa sponges cost five dollars or more in the store.  The enterprising young person growing luffa gourds across the roof of their inner-city barrio could earn hundreds of dollars each season.

Plants not only provide food but they provide security, shelter and medicine.

I love Lydia Cabrera's quote I use over and over, paraphrased "there are more spirits in the plants than in the sky".

Aloe growing out of walls and on roofs becomes the local doctor's office in many instances.

Low cost Barrio-type house with living walls, food roofs & water recycling

Structure walls made from wire with grapes abundantly growing provides fruit, sugar, vine and community opportunities.

Rooftop beans and peas can feed the masses, not only providing daily food but offering up the following years crop of seeds.

Reusing water and controlling flooding

Native wildflowers planted across window openings and on the roofs and walls bring in the pollinators, crucial for food production.  One must have native wildflowers growing side by side with food plants.

Collectively we have found a way to travel to the moon, harvest the atom and talk across the globe.

But this awesome generation has forgotten how to feed themselves.

Now is the time to relearn.  Now is the time to show our children how to break leashes and create freedom.

Give me one month and the seeds I can carry in my pocket, a few wiling youth from the urban core and  the plants of medicine, food, fiber and economy will be growing across the landscape.  It can be done in a desert or a wetland, hurricane or earthquake prone areas.

UF Hurricane simulator we've tested green roof system with

We've answered the critics who say it can't be done, designed systems withstanding cyclones, created highly productive food systems in 30mm of sand, implemented bee hives on roofs, built water storage systems for practically no cost and are working now on a rooftop chicken system.

Control of your food is the path to freedom and peace.  Reliance on the corporations for food is the path to bondage.

Plants for Green Roofs - The new MetroVerde Carbon Pirate Variety

First off, even though we are a registered nursery in the State of Florida we do not generally sell green roof plants.  The plants here and the way they were raised are for our own green roof projects.  We are sharing the information of both our successes and failures in hopes we will someday have a greener world.  Our commitment is to restore volumetric green to the urban core.

We've mentioned before in the blog the practice of hardening off drought tolerant and succulent plants before installing them on green roofs, but today MetroVerde officially rolls out its Carbon Pirate (trademarked) line of green roof plants.

What is so special about the MetroVerde Carbon Pirate plant line is the time and preparation put into the plants in anticipation of roof duty.

Realize we focus on the Southeast US and especially Florida, so our approach may not be the best approach for other regional climates.  But here in Florida - green roofs face the big 5 H's, Heat, High Humidity, Hard Freezes, Hard Dessicating Winds, Hurricanes, Heavy Downpours, Hot Periods of Long Drought (Looks like 7 and I could add a Host more) - the point is that once you step up onto a Florida roof, no matter what time of the year, your breath can be taken away.  And you understand why you cannot just plant a nursery grown specimen on the roof.  May look good for a few months but after that - well just look at most of the previous attempts here across the state (except for a select few).

Drought tolerant plants possess specialized physiological processes that respond to changes in nature such as rainfall patterns and temperature.  They have developed these functions over the eons and rely on these adaptations for survival in areas where water supply is unpredictable.  Many have very shallow radial root architectural structure with diameters that exceed many times the plants actual form.  These roots want to grow laterally rather than downward in response to the infrequent rainfalls typical of their native habitat.  During a light rainfall event the stormwater tends to barely penetrate soil surface (depending on soil types).

As the rain ends and the water either evaporates or infiltrates, the drought tolerant plant broad surface area of roots responds quickly, storing the liquid for later use.

Additionally the drought tolerant have developed an array of mechanisms for dealing with drought such as CAM - or Crassulacean Acid Metabolism, and we will discuss these in upcoming posts, but lets get back to root structure.

For example, a two foot tall cholla plant often has a thirty foot architectural root diameter.  The fundamental distinction of any drought tolerant plant is the broad lateral root architecture.  Note the difference between some plants that do well in dry areas yet long, vertical systems that tap into the ground water supply.  Examples of these would include; Acacia, Parsley, Burdock, and Mesquite (whose roots have been know to grow down vertically over 200 feet!).

In choosing a green roof plant you first want to select one with roots that want to grow radially, not vertically.  But there are logistical limitations with plants that have radial root systems - they do not like pots or containers.  They need room for their roots to grow.

Recall the times you have gone to a nursery and purchased a plant and returned home to find the plant's roots had circled and circled the inside of the pot - we call this being 'root bound'.  Not good for the plant.

However, practically speaking nurseries are not going to grow one plant in a large tray because of the economics of space, real estate and cost-effective efficiency (I couldn't afford to either).

Hence the dilemma.  A drought tolerant plant grown in a two inch deep container that is three inches by three inches wide will not survive over term on a green roof.  The available functioning root area will only be approximately four and one half cubic inches.  Now as long as the plant is in the green house with irrigation applied (strange to think of applying irrigation to a drought tolerant plants) the plant will probably survive.   However, if raised in a small pot and irrigated, the green roof plant when planted on a roof most likely won't make it.

Drought tolerant plants for the most part have water intake processes that work gradually.  They are used to taking in required water volumes at a lower rate per root surface area using a large root diameter rather than absorbing large volumes of water with a limited root surface area.

The change from greenhouse container with irrigation to the roof is usually just too much and the plants will not function as expected without intense maintenance, watering and fertilization.

Though a topic for another blog session, my firm belief is because here in Florida we have a severe water crisis and nutrient pollution crisis, designing a green roof with irrigation is a fundamentally not environmentally sound.  I know, the cistern argument - hold the rainwater and irrigate with rainwater, but anyone with a cistern in Florida will tell you it is empty most of the time and then you have to use potable makeup water.....  I'll reiterate - my firm belief is because here in Florida we have a severe water crisis and nutrient pollution crisis, designing a green roof with irrigation is a fundamentally not environmentally sound.

Working with some of our green roof species we've 'trained' (this almost sounds cruel) certain plants to bridge the gap between being raised in containers and roof plantings.  Using drought tolerant plants (we will discuss in future blogs) - and let me note here there is a difference between drought tolerant plants and the succulents and cacti - we are not referring here now to succulents or cacti - using drought tolerant plants grown in standard nursery containers, we apply restricted watering schedules over a long period of time - usually over a year, to harden off the plants and prepare them for roof service.

These plants are grown in hot greenhouses with background humidity levels and irrigation amounts of less than 1/2 inch per month.

Once installed on a green roof with a mat based foundation, their roots quickly grow out laterally and with cumulative input from humidity and natural rainfall, they survive and begin to fill in the roof area.  In contrast to the irrigated, happy plants that are fatally shocked once installed on a roof, these plants are relieved to find their home on a roof.  We call these plants MetroVerde Carbon Pirates (trademarked).  They sequester C through respiration, produce oxygen, clean stormwater, provide habitat and create a much need sense of place.

There is so much to talk about here - tray systems versus mat  based systems, whether or not to irrigate, cost, weight, fire hazards, maintenance, volunteer species, disease - but we have plenty of more blog discussions coming!  In the meantime happy green roofing and as always you can e-mail Kevin with your questions - kevin@metroverde.com.

Irrigation and Green Roofs - Green Roofs for Florida

The green roof test panel shown here is one year old.  We are preparing the unit for hurricane wind tunnel testing.    The only irrigation the roof panel has had is rainfall, and survived a very dry winter and spring.  Green roofs present a different growing environment for plants than do the ground.  No matter how rocky or little soil there may be, the ground offers a consistently cooler place for roots to exist.  A three inch thick extensive roof soil layer can reach temperatures of 140 degrees F or higher while the ground temperature is significantly lower.  So for plants to survive on a non-irrigated green roof, they must be carefully chosen.

We are raising a new breed of plants in the greenhouse where they are exposed to growing conditions much like those to be experienced on a roof.  Heat and prolonged drought.  With trials well into a year now, the plants go through prolonged leaf impact, however when finally brought out and exposed to rain, the bloom and grow.  Importantly, we look at the potentially for flammability when using plants with dried leaf matter or leaf litter.

One interesting quality we are seeing more and more of is the ability for plants to absorb humidity here in Florida.  Fortunately, even when the temperatures are torrid, the air relatively humidity may be quite high.  Air humidity can make the difference between a plant dying and a plant surviving a long period of non-rainfall.

Finally, with water shortages here in Florida and watering restrictions in place by municipalities and water management districts, why would a green roof designer recommend irrigation?  It is because they do not understand the 'right plant, right place' concept.  We have been working on green roofs for many years and understand those plants that work and those that do not.


Call us to discuss your next green-roof project!  Kevin 904-294-2656

Hurricanes, Wind Tunnel Testing, Florida Green Roofs and more

Extensive, non-irrigated green roofs for Florida and the southeastern US coastal areas.  Your MetroVerde Green Roof does not require irrigation, can survive long periods of drought, inundation, both freezing and sweltering temperatures while treating stormwater, providing wildlife habitat in the Urban Core and creating a beautiful Sense of Place.   Pictured above is the MV ER3 test panel at UF scheduled for wind testing in early 2010.  The test panel platform is adjustable from flat up to 45 degrees.  Because the system is a mat based structure - the roots are embedded into a monolithic, permanent platform - light weight - the MV ER3 weighs approximately 10 lbs per SF.

Another Green Roof in Florida - with Natives & Non-Irrigated

Corie's roof is planted with Florida Natives. The weight is approximately 10 lbs per SF and the roof is non-irrigated. We will post pictures as the roof plantings fill in with the growth of the native allium seeds.

Florida Green Roofs, Roots, Liners, Life Expectancy and Shingles

Yesterday I removed one of the original green, vegetated roofs we had installed in Florida - to replace with different plants - an herb garden type.

I was amazed at how the green roof plant roots had attached themselves to the fabric, creating a strong and binding weave - an important consideration here in Florida's hurricane prone environment.

The shingle roof underneath actually looked newer than the day, years ago that I installed the green roof.

Another example of how green roofs can protect the underlying roof membrane (especially non-irrigated green roofs!)

Kevin

Raising Green Roof Plants from Seed - Green House or Ground? No - The Roof!

Tip for the day:

When growing Green Roof Plants from seed - if the destination roof is available for use - grow the seeds on the roof. You will be building acclimation into the plants as they grow and minimize transfer shock.

The plants will be familiar with the light levels, climate, winds and morning dews.

The pictures above are the recent Feburary hard freeze showing on seed trays placed on top of a soon-to-be Florida Green Roof! Once the seedlings are mature the mat and liner will be installed then the plants placed into their permanent Green Roof Home.

Happy Green Roofing! Kevin

Green Roofs can be vertical green vines also - Choosing the right plant and planting system lays the foundation for success.

Try a MetroVerde Shade Trellis! Based on the concept that a deciduous vine will block solar gain during the summer when the leaves are growing and allowing needed heat during the winter months when the leaves are off - MetroVerde's shade trellis combines plant requirements with awning frame design to produce a product that 1. cleans stormwater, 2. provides habitat and 3. creates a beautiful sense of place!

Update - Florida Green Roof Project - with installation of green roofing plants!

Plant installation on the New Florida Green Roof Project proceeding! Looks for more updates soon!

Monday Night Fun - Green Roofing Florida Musings....

Tonight I'd like to introduce you to Robert Solomon, a highly esteemed green roofer. I met Ron (Ron - he prefers to go by his middle name) at the Hillsborough County, Florida (Tampa) Green Roof Symposium earlier this year.

Ron and I are about the same age and we both share a passion for freeing our country from dependence on foreign oil - did you realize that almost 11% of our imported oil is used for asphalt products - as in asphalt roofs....

Ron opened my eyes to the above - and I checked it out on the internet....see How To Save The World

So we are listening to various speakers about vegetated roofs - the benefits and sales pitches, when Ron pipes up about something besides a garden or vegetated roof - He is talking about TPO!... But I listen...and he is right....

Vegetated roofs are not the only Green roofs around....

White PVC and TPO roofs reflect immense amounts of sunlight and keep the buildings they cover as cool as a vegetated roofs, and are much cheaper. White Roofs are also green roofs.

And so I talk to him after the symposium. And we e-mail regularly. Ron is trying hard - very hard to educate the Tampa area businesses and schools and governments and others to stay away from heat loving foreign oil based BLACK asphalt roofing and consider white synthetic roofing.

But more than a public servant for his efforts to reduce heat island effects and conserve energy and help us break dependencies from foreign oil - Ron is a true gentleman.

A man with a spirit of 'It Can Be Done' and 'Have Fun While You Are Doing It'.

I agree with Ron. Life is short - too short.

Lets bring back green to the Urban Core. Vegetated Roofs or White TPO.

He and I are on the same team. The American Team!!!!!!!!!

Brown Curly Q's on the Alliums. It has been a while since we've had a rain event...Florida Green Roofs

Other than the tale tell sign that the alliums are aware that it has been a good while since rain has moistened their roof top beds, the MetroVerde Extensive Green Roofs I've been following are looking good.

The Semps have really enjoyed the respite from the humidity and are looking perky and green! Though you do not see them here. I'll post a pic of them tomorrow.

I was out most of the day today taking the International Society of Arboriculture's certified Municipal Arborist exam - I thought it was a hard test - but as I was reviewing the questions, several key phrases jelled in my mind about adding small trees to the MV Extensive roof panels and after consideration all afternoon - I think it will work!!! But of course, as always, we will vet in the field through many tests. Please be sure and stay tuned for more info as the field trials take shape.

Back to the alliums in a second - but first - we are going to develop a spreadsheet for the blog that will allow us to post temperature readings of on deck asphalt, on deck vegetation, below deck asphalt and below deck vegetated sampling points on a set of Jacksonville, Florida roofs. We will keep the readings posted year around for our interests and comments. Right now I am seeing October mid-day below deck under asphalt readings averaging 128 degrees F while below deck under extensive vegetation mats of 81 degrees F.

We are also running LC-50 tests on straight rainwater and then rainwater runoff from an asphalt shingled roof and a vegetated roof. It looks like the only roof that doesn't kill the fathead minnows is...well - we need to wait for the final data.

OK alliums. As you can see in the photo - the alliums are feeling the semi-drought. Though only a trained eye would probably see the stress indication in the leaf blade tips - it is there. But this is how alliums respond to drought. We will keep posting pictures until we experience a decent rainfall event. Never fear for these plants though - they are tough, tough, tough. Judy and I have worked with these plants for years and years. You cannot kill them and when you trim the blades back you can almost see them grow back out!

Can you tell from the photo? Lots of lush green - but look for the thin brown tips. It has been three weeks since a solid rain. If this was a roof with a modular tray system - here in Florida my bets are that you'd have a dead mess. Mat systems are so much better suited for the three Florida H's - Hurricanes, Heat and Humidity...

Until tomorrow! Happy Green Roofing Dreams! Kevin :)

Florida Green Roofs - Prepping the mat with expanded mineral material - perlite, vermiclite, expanded clay, agar, trace minerals, and more!

Episode Three - prepping the planting base - prepping the mat. Lots of standards and regulations, common sense precautions and just plain good BMP's - Best management Practices come into play now that the mat is rolled out. So we've talked to death the reason why we don't like trays and modular systems....Hey I heard of a roofing company somewhere is South Florida who just installed a system of trays on their roof - and the plants died...

But the reason we choose mats is not the reason we don't use trays. The reason we choose mats is because with a mat, the green roof's plant roots can grow as far north, south, east or west they want to grow. No circling (as in trays) and no self strangulation in a couple of years (as in trays).

Sure - maybe Plant A will Run into Plant B. Instead of root circling and strangulation though, the roots will compete with each other and the stronger plant will go onto to survive. The important note here is that there is always coverage - though one may dieback, the stronger or more suited plant survives. The mat advantage has proven itself on the Dearborn, Michigan Ford Motor Company 10 acre roof.

OK - back to the soil...

Wouldn't it be easiest just to fill the mat with dirt from the backyard? - Maybe so - but I wouldn't do it. Think of the weeds, nematodes, fire ants, etc you may be digging up and placing on your roof.

Moreover, ASTM has specifications written for dust and organic matter and more for green roof soil systems. The MetroVerde engineered soil (MV GRP) mixture we use is a proprietary blend - and we add soil goodies to it! I think of it as a stabilized outdoor hydroponic system!

So lay out a piece of plastic sheeting on the ground in an area you won't be walking - please note that if you have outside cats or dogs - they love to use a rolled mat system as a huge litter box! Take precautions!

Roll out your mat on top of the plastic, add the mixture of perlite, vermiculite and expanded clay. Apply the tackifier initial layer. Sow desired seeds or installed pre-grown plugs and reapply tackifier.

We'll explore soil mixtures and tackifier solutions (there are many of these sticky mixtures) in an upcoming post. In the meantime - Happy Green Roofing!!! Kevin

South Facing Florida Green Roof Project

We will be documenting an approximately 1000 SF green roof project here on the blog - beginning with the initial mat plantings in October 2008.

The mat material is ordered, scheduled for delivery within the week.

The organic seed stock and cuttings are established and ready for installation in the mat system.

Over the course of the next several posting you will view the current roof (asphalt shingles), the liner and liner installation, the mat and mat fabrication and construction and the final product. Feel free to post questions and suggestions! Join us on this project!



Kevin, Jincy and Ruairi

The 3 C’s of Sustainability: Communication, Community Involvement, and Campus Environment," the 3rd Annual Campus & Community Sustainability Conferenc

This conference, held in Orlando will be a premiere event to attend if you are interested in learning the details of Sustainability and Green Roofing in Florida!

Visit The 3 C’s of Sustainability: Communication, Community Involvement, and Campus Environment," the 3rd Annual Campus & Community Sustainability Conference hosted by the University of Central Florida and the Council for Sustainable Florida website for more details.

I will be moderating a panel discussing the Importance of Restoring Green to the Urban Core and will be joined on the panel by Dr. Marty Wanielista, P.E. of UCF, Catherine Burkee of Breaking Ground Construction, and Rob Overly of Rink Architecture. We will focus on the big three benefits of Restoring Green to the Urban Core: 1- Treating Stormwater, 2- Providing a Sense of Place, and 3- Recreating Habitat for Wildlife.

Examples of Dr. Wanielista's Green Roof systems and more will be discussed.

Join us for this fantastic opportunity to look at Green Roofs and More!!!

How Much Should A Green Roof Cost? and more Green Roofs for Florida musings

One of the most common questions I hear about green roofs & vegetated roofs & garden roofs is: HOW MUCH DO THEY COST? Good Question. Easy Answer.

An extensive evergreen garden roof can be purchased and installed from a base price of approximately $6-8.00 per square foot for simple, one species installations to $12-$14 per SF for a moderately top of the line extensive garden roof with multi-texture, multi-color plan species.

Now, if you have more money than you know what to do with - then you can spend as much as you want per SF. I have seen some vegetated/garden roofs quoted in the $120.00 per SF range (YIKES!!!),

It is educational (and I highly recommend you do this if you are interested in green roofs) to go and talk to your local roofer that has experience with installing TPO roofs. A TPO roof is also a 'green' roof if it is white in color - because it will reflect heat! Usually those roofers who have experience in TPO know vegetated roofs also - but always ask them if their company (or parent company) sells green roofing systems. If they do, be sure to make sure you are receiving unbiased info). A good TPO experienced roofer is Rick Anderson with Delta Roofing in Jacksonville, Florida - call Rick at (904) 292-1592 - tell him you saw his name on Kevin's blog.

Green roofs are my passion, and I believe they are key to restoring green to the Urban Core! - Creating habitat, a sense of place, and resolution to stormwater issues.

Don't be scared off by a quote of $20-$40 per SF for a green/vegetated roof! Those complicated and expensive systems are not necessary!

Please - beware of green roofs that require irrigation. Please!!! - it is easy to grow an orchard on a roof with fertilizer and irrigation and cow manure and etc...

A doubter? Look around the next time you are driving through town at the volunteer plants that THRIVE in sidewalk cracks, overpass retaining walls, uncared for gutters, and more. I've never seen irrigation tubing here!

Now - if you are looking at a global system - greywater, reuse, rainwater catchment (Judy and I are members of ARCSA - check out www.arcsa.org), permaculture - then you may want to integrate recycle irrigation into your vegetated roof - but DO NOT BUY the story that you HAVE to have irrigation. I can show you plenty of applications that have successful and beautiful green roofs that grew up on only rainwater...

OK - want to DIY? email me at chockasacka@msn.com

But before you go and spend $ 20+ per SF shop and compare.

One final tip of the evening. We take and set up light level and temperature recorders on roofs we are evaluating for plant applications. Spend some time to assess what you are working with - this is the first step to good planning.

One last final tip. If you want a top of the line extensive vegetated roof - low maintenance but lush, tropical and beautiful - one that will treat stormwater, provide urban wildlife habitat like you will never believe and create a sense of place your DNA will connect to - email me.

Happy Green Roofing!

Kevin