Lightweight Plants For Flat Roofs

It reduces loading on the structure of the building even when saturated with water up to xx lightweight substrates that incorporate expanded clay are compatible with all climates and all plant types e g.

Lightweight plants for flat roofs.

A green roof can be done on any roof even a slanted one. Roofs that are easy to access can be suitable for growing hardy herbs such as thyme prostrate rosemary or chives. In terms of handling and for practical reasons soil alone or topsoil for roof gardening can be difficult to work with in comparison to manufactured soilless media. A green roof usually consists of shallow plastic or metal trays filled with sedums grasses or perennial wildflowers.

Ensure the container is lightweight and has ample drainage holes in the base. Sedum grass herbaceous perennials shrubs trees or horticultural plants including urban vegetable gardens. Lightweight but sturdy resists shrinkage and wind displacement stable to support plants soil. A roof garden usually consists of larger planters filled with a mix of evergreens flowers shrubs and grasses.

Some companies such as green tech ltd offer a range of light weight soils and composts suitable for roof gardening. Sedum vegetation blanket instantly providing at least 90 coverage on an extensive green roof. Use a layer of lightweight drainage material at the base of the container such as polystyrene plant trays broken into crocks. A deciduous shrub with a funky common name harry lauder s walking stick corylus avellana contorta twists itself into seemingly unfathomable shapes that are good sculptural plant accents to a rooftop garden.

It s lightweight and easy to install. A step up in size and cost from sedums is wildflowers especially hardier lower growing natives alpine plants and bulbs. Flat roofing is not actually flat. Carex nigra is technically considered a sedge and is often used on living roofs because its roots require less soil than most other grasses or grass like plants.

40mm high perforated edge drainage trim for bauder sedum blanket. But such a low slope holds snow and water much longer than a steeply pitched roof and therefore needs a very different material to stay watertight. It has a very low slope between 1 4 to 1 2 inch per foot so that it drains water. Try dry habitat perennials and ornamental grasses such as rudbeckia achillea potentilla armeria dianthus helictotrichon sempervirens stipa tenuissima and even bulbs such as muscari or small allium species such as allium flavum and a.