Roof gardens are both aesthetically pleasing and functional. Roof gardens can provide hydrological benefits, architectural enhancements and temperature control in addition to food. It can also serve as a habitat for wildlife. There are a number of advantages when you plant a roof garden. It can cool the room below it, especially during a hot day. During winter, it provides insulation against the cold. In Germany, roof gardens are required to retain water from evaporating. It will prevent flash floods from occurring. There are three basic types of roof gardens. The main differences among the three are marked by the maintenance they require, the depth of the soil, and the type of plants that can be supported by the roof.
Extensive Roof Garden
This type of roof garden is easier to maintain than the other two because it uses shallow soil. Extensive roof gardens, which are lightweight, can easily be installed on small extensions of the home like garages and sheds. While these typese of roof gardens are easy to maintain, they are limited in the number of plants you can grow on it and have less aesthetic value than their counterparts. Lichens and mosses can be easily grown in an extensive roof garden. Lichens are symbiotic organisms that can colonize on surfaces such as glass, metal and plastic. Mosses are small green plants that do not require large quantities of nutrients for survival. They cling on stone and walls and, can live off of rainwater alone.
Semi-Extensive Roof Garden
These roof gardens, which have deeper soil, are capable of supporting a greater variety of plants. It can therefore be decorated more easily than the extensive roof garden. Because the semi-extensive roof garden has more (and heavier) soil, it requires a stronger supporting structure. One could plant sedums in this type of garden. These are succulents that can store water in their tissues. Although they can die or turn patchy during times of drought without proper care, sedums do not require watering every day. Because they require little maintenance, wildflowers are also ideal for a semi-extensive roof garden.
Intensive Roof Garden
Because they can support elaborate arrangements as well as trees, intensive roof gardens require large, sturdy structures, Concrete buildings and on top of roof decks are the most common places for intensive roof gardens to be installed since most single-home dwellings prove unsuitable for such projects. The intensive roof garden has no limitations regarding what you can plant in it as long as the building’s structure is capable of supporting the weight.
About the author: Megan Barlow helps others learn to live more environmentally friendly lives. Find out more about green living at her blog on Green and Eco-Friendly Gadgets.
This article was first posted at Three Roof Garden Variations.
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