Plant Medium For Living Roof

These aggregates make a good basis for a growing medium.

Plant medium for living roof.

These materials are available throughout the west coast of north america. Soil s saturated weight can reach 120 lb ft 3 7 5 kg m 3 which is far too high for roof gardening. Sedums are one of the star plants for creating a green roof and a sedum roof needs no extra growing medium. This family consists of four to five hundred species and thousands of different varieties.

As well as affording excellent ground cover this hardy easy to maintain plant grows happily in a shallow layer of substrate minimising the amount of pressure it puts on a structure. The targeted saturated weight of roof top growing media should be 48 65 lb ft 3 3 4 kg m 3. The natural properties of sedum make this succulent plant extremely suitable for roof greening. Succulents are plants that store water in a part of the plant.

For the best green roof medium the growing media should contain the following. Sedum also often known as stonecrop is a genus of the crassulaceae family of succulent plants. Now comes the growing medium which for a sedum roof should be at least 8cm 3in deep and for a roof of wildflowers herbs salad and strawberries at least 15cm 6in deep. 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.