Trees = Living Wall, Urban Greening in Small Spaces

You can add an amazing amount of vertical green in very small city spaces.

Living Wall using containerized fruit trees

Smaller urban trees can serve to shade walls, provide habitat, produce food, clean stormwater and so much more.  And the concrete does not have to be busted up to allow the trees to grow and prosper.

The photos included here are of a very small lot in a small urban core (downtown) trailer park.  The owner has created a living wall/forest with food trees.  Citrus, figs and fruit trees line the western exposure wall of the trailer.

Florida Living Wall, Urban Greening in small spaces using trees

If even a small portion of all the trailers, small houses and apartments with balconies create living walls from containerized plants, we'd see such a huge improvement to Urban Core air quality and heat island effect while butterflies, bees and dragonflies swarmed about.

Scaleability and cost effectiveness are huge components of a successful Urban Core Greening program.

We can all learn from this example, go home and do the same, creating a living wall with containerized citrus, fig and fruit trees.

Balcony Greening Jacksonville's Urban Core - Reversing Ecological Consumerism Trends

'Seeds of Green" efforts are beginning here in Jacksonville and Northeast, Florida as an effort to highlight important sustainability efforts no matter how large or small they are.

The inaugural post will feature the efforts of Michelle and Toi Chance-Sangthong of Jacksonville, Florida and I appreciate all the photos they have shared on Facebook - those you see here in this note.

Michelle & Toi's Balcony Garden, Urban Core Greening

Michelle and Toi live in an apartment with their balcony offering to best opportunity to garden.  Without plants, their apartment building is just another concrete structure in the Urban Core.

Michelle and Toi have grown and raised a number of plants on their quite small balconies.   Their example is what other apartment or condo dwellers should follow for several very important reasons.

Aloe, flowers and food plants line their balconies

We all know that grey concrete and black asphalt now cover what was once stretches of green in many cities.  With the loss of vertical and horizontal green, wildlife have suffered while habitat was paved over.

Plants growing in the Urban Core are vital for a number of reasons, including; clean air (they remove carbon dioxide and pump out fresh oxygen), carbon sequestration, stormwater attenuation and cleansing, wildlife and habitat creation, urban heat island reduction, wind breaks, stress reduction, food, beauty and so much more.

Urban Core greening, growing plants in small spaces

Though we might think that one balcony full of plants is a drop in the bucket, the cumulative effect of many inhabitants following Michelle's and Toi's example could make a profound difference in Urban Core environmental quality.

Looking at photos of their balcony I see food, flowers and important ethnobotanicals such as aloe.

Their intensive growing systems include micro irrigation techniques and containerized soil media units.

Michelle and Toi's milkweed, Asclepias curassavica

I've watch them post photos of different types of food they've raised, like cucumbers, on Facebook over the summer.

In many ways Michelle and Toi are becoming environmental producers rather than environmental consumers.  For instance, their balcony plants are replacing a significant portion of the oxygen they daily consume.  Some may say, "Hey, that isn't a big deal - the plants in our yard do that!"  However for apartment or condo dwellers in the Urban Core who do not have yards, their balcony plants can be the best way to offset eco-consumerism.

Urban Core Monarch caterpillars devouring Michelle's milkweed

Growing your own food saves energy too.  With the oil crises where it is, local food eliminates the need for long distance trucking of industrially grown produce, saving diesel and gasoline.  Some statistics show the average distance food on a family's evening dinner table exceeds two thousand miles.  Michelle's and Toi's average fifty feet or so.  Now I am sure all their food doesn't originate on the little balcony, yet their intent and efforts are what this world needs in creating a healthy and sustainable Urban Core.

Beyond the food are the butterflies.  Michelle and Toi grew Monarchs, unknowingly at first, across their balcony.  Michelle purchased a variety of milkweed, Asclepias curassavica from the nearby Ace Hardware store.  Soon her balcony was crawling, literally with Monarch larvae and caterpillars.

Monarch chrysalis on the balcony milkweeds

Michelle went back to the store to buy more milkweed as the caterpillars quickly devoured most of the millkweed leaves.

Michelle and Toi again were producing environmental gain for the Urban Core.

Thanks to Michelle and Toi, Monarchs find habitat in the Urban Core's concrete jungle

Michelle counted fourteen Monarch chrysalis with twelve surviving to ecolsion.

If just one hundred thousand others would follow Michelle's and Toi's example the world could boast of an addition one million four hundred thousand Monarch butterflies.

Little efforts add up.

'Seeds of Green' salutes Michelle and Toi's efforts in Urban Greening and hopes to see more over the years.

Green Roof and Urban Core Plant Extraordinaire, Bidens spp.

I was asked to contribute towards a new municipality green roof regulatory policy, one where there was considerable incentive given developers towards site entitlements if the project would include a green/vegetated roof.

Monarch Butterfly & Bidens alba

Zebra Swallowtail & Bidens alba

One of the committee members also invited was an accomplished technical/construction specialist - one with multiple graduate degrees in technical and mechanical fields.  But she did not understand plants.

Her past green roof projects had been designed around available landscape plants.  Choose the typical on-the-ground landscape plant and design irrigation and fertilizer and other accessory design criteria to support the landscape plants - was the motto.

Whenever we'd discuss native species or volunteer species showing up on the roof, she'd immediately try to quash the discussion by shouting 'WEEDS!  NO ONE WANTS WEEDS ON THE ROOF!' 

I think it was because she felt uncomfortable trying to work with the organic, dynamic complexities of nature.  Obviously she wanted no part of having native plants or wildflowers or grasses on the roof.  Moreover, I've seen some of her 'landscaped' green roofs and they quickly revert back to natives, or as she calls them 'weeds'.  I am sure selective herbicides are used quite often on her green roofs and with obviously little luck.

Now is the time to stop.  We must stop seeing masses of green and train ourselves to look at the plant.  There are few if any true worthless weeds in nature and likewise few, if any true worthless weeds on green roofs or across the Urban Core.

Each plant has its own beauty and purpose, even those obnoxious ones.

I've often quoted Lydia Cabrera in saying "there are more spirits in the plants/forests than in the sky'.

The vegetated roof in Sanford I toured this week was full and vibrant due to volunteer plants.

Really, there are no true worthless weeds.

I heard the weed thing again from my daughter, today. 

She showed me her photos of one of the most obnoxious plants in my book - Bidens alba (Hairy Beggar's-tick).  Just try walking through a mass of Bidens and wait till you come out the other end of the patch.... 

I love their masses of white flowers but distrust their desire to bestow me with masses of aggravating seeds.

I almost at this time of the year agreed with the self-centered technocrat who probably couldn't tell bamboo from horsetail or coral honeysuckle from trumpet vine.  I almost shouted WEEDS!

But Jincy showed me her pictures from today.  Ones she and Ruairi took out back.  The Bidens are growing on the roof too.

And Lydia Cabrera is right about more spirits in plants.  And I am right about 'there really are no weeds'....

No need to weed the Bidens from the back yard or the corner lot or the green roofs.  Just step back and admire the flowers and astonishing numbers of pollinators drawn to this plant.

Metallic Green Bee and Bidens alba

Green Roof Wind Uplift Studies by University of Florida on Modular and Built In Place Systems

The University of Florida's Civil and Coastal Engineering Department has completed an extensive review of how both 1. Modular, and 2. Built In Place Green Roof systems preform under wind loading.

The informative, useful and comprehensive report by Dr. David Prevatt is available as a pdf file here.

Green Roofs and Biomimicry's Lessons

An understanding of proper plant use for Urban Greening projects, including green roofs and urban permaculture gardens can come from many sources including, research, books, libraries, on-line information sharing and hands-on experience.

Florida Green Roof Plants - Frog Fruit crows across harsh, hot coquina sea wall boulders

One of my favorite ways to learn about what species of plants to use and how to grow them across cityscapes is to study successful plant habit in harsh ecosystems.

Those plants growing well under the influence of extreme heat, high humidity, strong desiccating winds, intense light or shade levels and other environmental factors will  usually survive on a city roof, against a wall, on a patio or balcony and in a windowsill.

Too many times designers try and use those plants that need to be gently cared for in cityscapes.  Ultimately the plants die and the urban greening project is shelved for another with less perceived maintenance requirements.

Florida Green Roof Plants - Nature's Examples are the Best Way to Learn About Urban Greening

However, there are many places to find the results of nature's selections and choices.

The beach and her sand dunes; hot, dry roadsides; Urban rooftops; gutters on buildings, vacant lots are just a few of many mini-biomes presenting opportunities for learning about plant growth habits, root architecture, soil, water and nutrient requirements and more.

This week I was walking along a coquina rock seawall.  I cannot go far with my dissected aorta and many times, walking ten feet or so is enough to tire me to the point of sitting down to rest.  The slowness has advantages though and stopping more often allows for opportunities to examine small outcrops of plants in detail.

The coquina boulders in front me, though they were surrounded by salt water, buffeted with strong winds and unrelenting sunlight, supported an amazing array of lovely plants and wildflowers.

Those plants I saw on the boulders, the Frog Fruit, Hydrocotyle, native succulents, many of these we have successfully used across green roofs in North Florida.

Nature can teach us many things.  We just need to stop and look.

Green Roofs and Hurricanes, Design for Wind and Rain

Hurricane season is upon us.  Importantly, Florida Green Roofs should have adequate design consideration provided for keeping plants on the roof during storm events.

One of my favorite design tools is use of three dimensional geo synthetic fabrics to allow a plant's root architecture to form a strong bond between plant and roofing system.

The above video shows a green roof panel containing a three dimensional weave and soil media along with some organic compost.  The panel is being pressure washed to remove the soil media.

As the video shows, the green roof soil media is not easily removed.  Three dimensional weaving provides excellent wind and water resistance and can be very helpful for sloped green roof stabilization or any green roof subject to extreme weather conditions.

Worm Castings for a Florida Green Roof

Totally amazing, the work with students that Catherine Burkee is directing across the Breaking Ground Green Roof.

Take a look at the video where Catherine explains how worms make composted fertilizer and then the fertilizer is used across the green roof.  Be sure to visit the Breaking Ground Contracting Green Roof blog too.

Sloped Green Roofs & Hurricanes, Florida Urban Sustainability

Recently, one of the original field trial green roofs was temporarily removed to allow for installation of a solar hot water system piping.  The roof's slope was approximately 7/12 and originally the lightweight extensive mat system was installed over the existing asphalt shingles (with a root barrier/waterproofing liner).  The green roof system used a soil media comprised of primary organic mixtures, had a variety of sedum, succulents and native Allium species planted (A. canadense and others).

Florida Green Roof, MetroVerde Extensive Mat System

The sedum and original Aptenia struggled over time, eventually giving way to the A. canadense, primarily due to fungal attacks during the steamy hot, humid summer months (not necessarily rainy just high water vapor months).

Once removed the underlying roof appeared to look the same as the day the green roof was installed seven years ago, free of water damage and quite nicely preserved. 

The green roof system was a simple.ost-effective system defying all odds and wagging-tongues - (don't use high organic soil media, the roof is too sloped, can't put a green roof over asphalt shingles, a nature-irrigated green roof will not survive, etc...).   The system easily survived several tropical cyclones, one rainfall event where we had eighteen inches of water in over two days (Tropical Storm Fay), extended periods of brutal drought and more).  The roof never had additional soil or plants added to it.

 Once the solar piping was in place the intent was to  add a recycled section of old, heavy duty chain link fence to the wall under the roof and plant and grow luffa gourds in the gutter, allowing them to cascade down over the guter edge across the chain link living wall fencing. I can hear the wagging tongues now - growing plants in gutter!

Florida Green Roof, Luffa Gourds in Gutters

Importantly, over the years of watching the roof preform the plants adsorbed and drank most of the rainfall events - especially any rain less than one inch (most of our afternoon rainstorms here are les than one inch) rendering the gutter useless.  The gutter was useless in the eighteen inch plus rainfall event too.  Though I would not do this on a commercial application, we do push the limits at the nursery to see what systems can do.  I am confident the green roof system we've replaced on the roof will handle any and all precipitation events, even with the luffa planted in the gutter, and just as the organic matter did not clog and wash out or decompose as predicted or the roof wash off during tropical cyclones, the luffa planted gutter - filled with a fast draining soil media will pleasantly surprise us.

The luffa is deciduous and will allow winter sun to hit our masonry walls, adding heat in the cooler months yet shading out summer solar radiation.

So with skyrocketing food prices in the grocery markets, a food based schema was designed for plantings.  The original mat, removed during the solar renovation process was replaced, adhered using a low VOC roofing glue.

Florida Extensive Green MetroVerde Green Roof, Mat installed

Once the mat was in place and inspected the soil media was added.   This is the process where the greatest leap of faith occurs for me.

Florida MetroVerde Extensive Green Roof Soil Media

A leap of faith because placing soil on a quite steep roof surface seems to be a futile approach, one probably washing off during the first rain storm, covering outside walls with a muddy mess.  Of course we watch the weather predictions as would any roofer and don't start if rain is predicted for a couple days.

The soil media is a fine material, free of aggregate - important when designing in a cyclone prone area.  Our soil media specifications call for microscopic sharp, geometric edges capable of locking together and when roots are added to the blend a highly stable, well-drained monolithic system is created.  The trick lies in initially adding fast growing C3 plants to bind all together then incorporating a purposeful evolution to a blend of more C4 and CAM plants to allow for drought tolerance and wind resilience.

Florida Extensive Green Roof, Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes

Since I love Wild Cherry Tomatoes and cannot get enough of them I decided on Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes to accompany the luffa's.  This wild breed produces more delicious cherry tomatoes than any other variety I have seen.  I am expecting thousands and thousands of cherry tomatoes this year.

Florida Green Roof, Food Roof, Rooftop Permaculture by MetroVerde

Cherry tomatoes are ramblers and will cascade down alongside the luffas, down the living wall so I won't have to actually climb the roof to fetch the round red scrumptious fruits.

Florida Green Roof - Rooftop Permaculture

Expect update photos as the luffa's and tomatoes grow and fill in the living wall, cascading down from above, providing us and countless hungry insects, birds and other Urban Jax Core wildlife with fresh organic nectar, food and beauty.

Educational Outreach and Green Roofs, Students Planting Rooftop Gardens

Educational Outreach and Green Roof Permaculture in the Urban Core!  Awesome work by Catherine Tappouni Burkee!

Tropical Storms and Green Roofs, Short Video About Winds and Soil Media

Tropical Storm Isaac is headed to Florida according to forecasters.  Below is a video showing interactions between high winds, rains and a sloped green roof.

Extensive, Sloped Green Roof & Torrential Downpours, Are They Compatible?

Green Roof Plant Layout and Transcendental Numbers

Watch out for patterns on a green roof.  The randomness of natural plant habitat is far more interesting to the subconscious than pretty and unnatural geometric patterns.

Having walked and waded through Florida's swamps most of my life, I've had to always watch for alligators, poisonous snakes and biting insect nests.  Swamp trekking involves slow tedious movements, especially if the water you are walking through is dark and you cannot see what you are stepping on.  Logs, holes and other obstacles often times lie just under the surface making a fast get-away nearly improbable.

Importantly most of the potentially dangerous animals in a swamp are non-aggressive unless bothered.  An alligator typically (I say typically because there have been known aggressive and fatal attacks) won't bother you unless it feels threatened.  Same way with rattlesnakes and stinging insects. 

A water moccasin is a mean creature and just as often as not they will chase you.  Pushing my way through three meter tall saw palmetto along the edge of a creek one day I had a large water moccasin, Agkistrodon piscivorus, jump out of a saw palmetto, Serenoa repens, and begin striking at my legs.  In my attempt to retreat I tripped and fell into the water where the snake continued to pursue after me and left with the choice of dispatch with my machete or have the moccasin bite me between the legs I cut the reptiles head off swiftly.  Unfortunately, the snake's aggressiveness is embedded rather strongly within its DNA and the severed head continued to jump and strike for most of a minute, quite frighteningly.

I say all of this to make a point about biodiversity and green roofs.

One of the many things I've learned from the swamps is a subconscious awareness of patterns.  When I am in the field where dangerous animals are located I look for patterns.  In the plant community there are few large geometric community patterns other than the flower.  But on the ground plant habitat is always random in visual nature.  However, when my eye catches a glimpse of a solid geometric pattern in length, width or height I immediately look to see what type of animal I am approaching.

A Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, for example can kill an adult quite quickly with its potent venom, yet this snake just wants to be left alone.  So if I am in a thicket of plants and look ahead to see the distinct pattern as portrayed here in Wikipedia, I change my path so as not to interfere with the creature.

Plant communities will always exhibit more randomness in their visual patterns than animals.  This is true even when walking through a seemingly uniform pine flatwoods area covered in meadowbeauty or wire-grass.  The habitat may seem uniform yet there is the randomness of spacing between the pines and between the plants.

Recognizing patterns has saved me from stepping on a still lying 'gator' many times.

And the random beauty of plant communities, the lines, curves, colors and hues is nature's way unique way of fingerprinting - everything is unique.  There are no exact and identical plant formations in nature.

Complicated uniqueness is the focal point of bio-diversity.  Each plant system or wildlife community is diverse in biological constituency, hence the tern 'bio' - 'diversity'.

A nature-focused, native species green roof should be designed accordingly.

The subtle inundation's and changing ground elevation lines should be reflected on the roof.  Green roof soil media gradations of 10 mm to 50 mm across a relatively flat stretch of roof are important.  Elevation changes in living roof soil media provide much more than visual interest - they serve as wind breaks, assist in the collection, transport and storage of rainwater, dew and fog and provide shelter for visiting wildlife.

Too many times we may simply rake a green roof sol media flat.  Allowing slight fluctuations in the soil media mimics nature and ultimately may allow for more chances at green roof community planting successes.

The same holds true for species mixes on green roofs.  The general rule for a nature-based biodiverse planting is the 10-20-30 rule.  The 10-20-30 rule guides us to plant no more than 10% of the green roof with any one Species, 20% of the roof with one Genera and 30% of the roof with one Family.

Monoculture plantings on green roofs are confusing to wildlife and provide sub-standard communal and foraging habitat.

And while it may be easy to call out in design the one or two proven plants for a green roof project, the long term habitat value will be diminished with a green roof that only contains one type of plant.  Remember, even if the design intent is to have a solid, one color and one texture appearance across the roof, this can be accomplished with using a mix of similar appearing species.  One does not have to create monocultures on green roofs to achieve design intent!

Learn to recognize patterns, and shy away from them.

A good, biodiverse green roof planting design should afford stunning random beauty.   The key to infinite design beauty is total plant randomness.

Florida Permaculture Spicy Globe & Goat Cheese Pesto

Simple yet delicious permaculture pesto recipe perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner or anytime in between!

Spicy Globe Basil & Goat Cheese Permaculture Pesto

Our patio container Spicy Globe Basil did so much better than our garden sweet basil this year.   I suspect because Spicy Globe Basil's leaves are smaller and grouped tighter than sweet basil, the Spicy Globe is more resilient to water loss through photosynthesis processes and wind desiccation.

Florida Permaculture Garden's Container Grown Spicy Globe Basil & Peppers ready for Pesto!

And our Florida Permaculture Garden's this morning's Spicy Globe Basil was bright green and ready for pesto.

One of my favorite pesto blends is Spicy Globe Basil and Goat Cheese with Jalapeños.

Florida Permaculture Garden's Jalapeños and Habanero Peppers, deseeded

To make, harvest two large handfulls of basil, a green and a red jalapeño (I added a habanero chili also this morning).

Wash the basil, deseed the peppers, place basil and peppers in the food processor.

Add one half cup goat cheese and shredded parmesan,  and a half handfull of almonds.  Sprinkle in ten golden raisins.  Add one half cup extra virgin olive oil.

Spicy Globe Basil & Goat Cheese Permaculture Pesto

Blend well and serve with our favorite crackers!

Spicy Globe Basil pesto is healthy, full of phytovitamins and a great way to start your permaculture day!

Urban Greening with a Green Roof in Jacksonville, Florida

The green roof over Breaking Ground Contracting has been the subject of many posts here, primarily because every time I have the opportunity to take photos of the living roof the plants there are expressing themselves with new and unique bio-patterns.

Florida Extensive Green Roof in Jacksonville, Florida

The roof is a Florida extensive living roof, designed for tropical storm and hurricane resiliency.

The plants are a blend of native wildflowers, grasses, succulents, herbs and more.

After enduring early summer droughts and two tropical storms, the roof is full of pollinators and looks magnificent.

Breaking Ground Contracting's living roof serves to cool Urban Heat Island effects, provides wildlife habitat, attenuates and cleans stormwater, sequesters carbon, pumps out oxygen, provides beauty in the Urban Concrete Jungle and more.

Compost May Not Be Good for Florida's Aquatic Systems

Composting can provide many benefits for Floridans. Composting recycles nutrients sequestered by plants back into fertilizer-like substances. Plants then utilize composted organic matter to grow.

Composting though, must take place in the right place and right manner. Open raw compost may create serious health issues.

When we design Urban Green systems, including stormwater shelves and bioswales, we try to specify plants that contribute a minimum of leaf litter to the waterways. Deciduous plants, even if they are native species or important food plants may contribute too much biomass in the form of leaf drop (litter). Though there is a time and place for nitrogen and phosphorous rich compost, the excess biomass may not belong in community ditches, open lots or out in the open. Instead, proper composting may require proven permaculture approaches.

Though we desperately need to create urban habitat for wildlife, we must also create habitat in a responsbile manner. Whereas food chain effects and predators control nuisance wildlife populations such as rodents, squirrels and raccoons, these critters can cause serious health and safety issues in the Urban Core if attracted by improperly treated compost. Racoons in particular are significant carriers of roundworms and other parasites. Very recently, someone we knew well was hospitalized at Shands in Gainesville for life-threatening roundworm issues attributed to racoons around their house. Epidemiology studies show racoons to be a serious health issue in some locals and carry parasitic creature eggs that can infiltrate even the cleanest of houses on the bottom of sandals or shoes.

Properly composted organic matter may potentially be used in a safe manner in Florida permaculture gardens, yet as with all fertilizers, compost should be used in a specific application, one directed at food or landscape garden growing. Keeping nutrients where they are needed and out of Florida's water systems is an important and oft-overlooked component of good permaculture science.

By keeping additional nutrient rich organic and composted plant matter out of the aquifer, our creeksand rivers and other waterbodies we also limit potential for suffocating algal growth.

Algae, like any other plant relies on nitrogen and phosphorous to grow. The more nitrogen and phosphorous in water, the more algae in the waterbody.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with algae, like any other living organism uncontrolled algal growth can choke out all other forms of life, stealing all available oxygen from the water and blocking light neccessary for photosynthesis.

Keeping nutrients out of the water that may feed algae is an important reason for keeping compost and dead and decaying plants out of aquatic systems. Simply put, nutrients sequestered out of the water by being taken up through plants should not be allowed to reenter waterways. Once a plant dies and decomposes, most previously sequestered nutrients may be released from the plant matter back into the water. Once back in the water column nutrients feed more algae blooms with potent nitrogen and phosphorous compounds.

Giant bullrush growing in stormwater pond, sequestering nutrients and toxins

The above photo depicts giant bullrush growing in a stormwater facility, taking up and sequestering toxins and nutrients.

Practically speaking, herbicide use in ponds to control weeds never really promotes clean water. In fact once plants die from herbicide application the once sequestered nitrogen and phosphorous leach out of the dead plant material back into the water. What was once removed from the water column is soon released back into the aquatic environment. These nutrients can travel for hundreds of miles dissolved in underground aquifer water to reemerge in a pristine river or lake. Soon algae may be filling our our waterbodies, including those used for recreation and water supply.

Same pond as above, one month later after herbicide application, bullrush composting into the pond, rereleasing toxins and nutrients back into the aquatic system

The above photo depicts giant bullrush sprayed with herbicide, now composting in the pond, soon to release previously sequestered nutrients and toxins back into the water supply.

Though many municipalities today use herbicide applications to keep algae and other plants at bay, the process is self-defeating. As soon as the sprayed algae and aquatic plants such as cattail and reed die and compost where they once grew, all the nitrogen and phosphorous originally sequestered becomes rereleased into the aquatic ecology to fuel more algal growth.

A better solution for removing nutrients and toxins from stormwater facilities is to harvest the plant biomass after cuttinginstead of spraying with herbicide. Removing sequestered nutrients this way is refered to 'nutrients in -nutrients out'. Nutrients and toxins flow into the ponds, plants grab and sequester the nutrients, plants are harvested thus removing nutrients from the waterway systems.

Composting can be a good permaculture practice if done where nuisance wildlife are not attracted into residential areas and thenutrients are not rereleased back into our waterways.

Spraying herbicides to kill algae and other vegetation in ditches and stormwater ponds is composting in an incorrect manner.

Using native evergreen plants and those plants with low leaf litter rates can reduce the necessity to remove vegetation litter and algae.

Harvesting the biomass and composting in a well designed municipal or neighborhood facility can keep nutrients out of Florida's waterways and our waterbodies free from unneccessary algal blooms.

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Living Roof Survives Tropical Storms and Drought on the Breaking Ground Contracting Rooftop, Jacksonville, Florida

Breaking round Contracting Green Roof, Jacksonville, FL

Visiting the living roof atop Breaking Ground Contracting's office building yesterday for the first time in over ten months, I was pleasantly surprised with the plant growth and appearance.

Catherine Tappouni Burkee works with local students, teaching them about rooftop and urban greening

There is a lot of biomass on the roof!

Rooftop Gardens Sequester Carbon and Promote Biodiversity in the Urban Core

Biomass translates into carbon sequestration, oxygen production and mitigation of Urban Heat Island Effect.

Native wildflowers such as Mimosa, Phyla, Rudbeckia, Gaillardia and Bidens are blooming. Herbs such as lemongrass, mint, rosemary and thyme are growing well.

Green Roof Benefits are Many and Include Stormwater Attenuation, Urban heat Island Mitigation and more!

Breaking Ground Contracting's Rooftop Garden is Irrigated with Rooftop AC Condensate

Native grasses too, compliment the plantings, along the native Yucca filamentosa.

Urban greening is so important for many reasons. Kudos to the Tappouni sisters, Mary, Michelle and Catherine for their efforts in making Jacksonville a greener place to live, work and play!

Posted with Blogsy

Urban Greening, Creating Visual Screens with Plants

Many municipalities and urban governments require screening around infrastructure such as water and natural gas back-flow preventers and other pipe systems found adjacent commercial buildings.

Most insist the screens be constructed from wooden privacy fence panels, concrete or brick walls, chain link fencing with privacy slats or other man-made materials.

Ligustrum japonicum, Visual Screen for Site Infrastructure

Planners and site development reviewers rarely allow these screens to be created from plants.  

Wooden and chain link fence panels are understandably predictable in behavior and provide instant opacity.

Plants on the other hand take time to grow, and if not maintained properly can present a challenge.

Ultimately, many city permitting staff take the easy way out and reject proposals using plants for screening requirements to a site development plan.

Ligustrum vulgare, Visual Screen for Site Infrastructure.  Plants provide privacy,  clean stormwater, sequester carbon, pump out oxygen, offer wildlife habitat and more.

Yet there are some visionary site designers and municipal site plan reviewers, some who are willing to take a risk and allow plants to be used for infrastructure screening.

Plant screens can be highly effective, offering opacity and privacy.  Additionally, plant screens clean stormwater, sequester carbon, produce oxygen, prevent erosion, provide habitat for urban wildlife and mitigate urban heat island effect.

Ligustrum vulgare, Visual Screen for Site Infrastructure.  Though Ligustrum japonicum, Common Privet is not a native plant, she is a drought tolerant landscape species offering much more benefit to the Urban Core than fencing panels.

Here, once again Publix has shown visionary design approaches by specifying plants for infrastructure screens.  Ligustrum or Common Privet, Ligustrum japonicum is not a native plant species however it is considered to be a drought tolerant and reliable landscape plant.

Even more encouraging was the fact that the reviewing county agency approved the use of plants for a visual screen rather than wooden panels or galvanized chain link.

Kudos to the designers and to the permitting staff for allowing and even encouraging Urban Greening.

Hopefully we will see more native plant landscapes serve as site design elements in the Urban Core.