Green Roof Training

Living roofs and Ecosystem Services – London

DustyG — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:17:53 +0000

9th September: Living Roofs & Ecosystem Services Dusty Gedge and Gary Grant

Flash flooding, air pollution health alerts are already part of London’s summer profile. The near future will see these increase due to an increase in the urban heat island effect. Possible Lisbon style temperatures by 2020. This masterclass looks at a range of ecological design principles [...]

Green roof plant of the week – Lady’s Bedstraw

DustyG — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:34:04 +0000

Lady’s Bedstraw is found on dry, sandy sites, grasslands and dunes. Being suited to dry and well drained situations make’s it an ideal for green roofs.

The small yellow flowers are very attractive to a range of wildlife, especially butterflies, bees and moths. Specific species include Six-spotted burnett moth Hummingbird and Small elephant hawk [...]

Meadows and Veg Shed – RHS Hampton Court

DustyG — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:00:21 +0000

The Oxford Green Roof Company is a small green roof design and build company based in Oxfordshire. They have taken a lot of advice from our DIY guide and both Dusty and John Little on setting up their company and how to build and approach the establishment of good green roofs. Their entry at RHS [...]

Green roof plant of the week – Common Knapweed

DustyG — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:52:03 +0000

Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) is a classic plant of rough grassland, dry meadows and road verges. This makes it ideal for planting on small scale large green roofs. It is also a great plant and is included in my species lists for brown roofs and biodiverse roofs.

‘Hardheads’ as they are colloquially known have the [...]

Green roof plant of the week – Maiden Pink

DustyG — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 06:56:13 +0000

Dianthus species are common wildflowers on green roofs on the continent. Maiden Pink (Dianthus deltoides) is a widespread UK native wild pink and is an ideal wildflower for green roofs.

It’s pink carnation like flowers provide an attractive addition. Furthermore the plant forms a mat with its leaves, thus providing good coverage on a green roof. Maiden [...]

Green roof plant of the week – Common Toadflax

DustyG — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:20:54 +0000

Common toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) is an excellent plant on green roofs. However it is vulnerable to drought and therefore needs to be in at least 150mm to really flourish. A good tip is to plant between a couple of logs. The logs provide a little shade and protection form the wind. [...]

Green roof plant of the week – Thrift (Armeria maritima)

DustyG — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:53:21 +0000

Thrift is a coastal plant thriving on cliff and cliff tops. Thriving in such stressed conditions makes it ideally suited to green roofs. It is spectacular plant and it is worth planting plugs of the species in groups of ten or more to give a good carpet effect on the green roof.

The plant is very attractive [...]

Green roof plant of the week – Mignonette

DustyG — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:26:51 +0000

Mignonette (Reseda lutea) is a native berb that has dense terminal spikelike clusters of yellowish white flowers. The scent of the flowers is an intense spicy fragrance. It is a good green roof plant, where the substrates are deeper than 100mm.[[Show as slideshow]]

Mignonette can be found on wastelands and other places where the [...]

Green roof plant of week – Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca)

DustyG — Mon, 24 May 2010 11:49:25 +0000

Being a classic plant of dry soils and rocky places the wild strawberry is a great green roof plant. It is commonly used on the continent on green roofs and there are many examples of it being used as a dominant green roof plant in the UK.

[Show picture list][[Show as slideshow]]

The plant has long arching [...]

Green roof plant of the week – Ox-eye daisy – Leucanthemum vulgare

DustyG — Sat, 15 May 2010 07:36:09 +0000

This ‘moon’ daisy is a great plant to sow or plant as a plug in a both small and large green roofs. It is a very common green roof plant on the European continent, when establishing dry grassland green roofs. At landscape level – it is often a short lived perennial of grasslands, disturbed soils [...]