Roof gardens are built for both their aesthetic and their functional values. A roof garden can provide temperature control, architectural enhancement, hydrological benefits, and of course 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 garden. They differ according to the maintenance they require, the type of plants the roof will support and the depth of the soil. The three types of roof gardens are:

Extensive Roof Garden

This is the easiest type of roof garden to maintain because it uses shallow soil. Extensive roof gardens are lightweight, and ideal for the roofs on garages, sheds, and other small extensions of the home. Although it’s easy to maintain this type of roof garden, it has the least aesthetic value, and the number of plants that can grow on it is quite limited. Examples of plants you can grow in an extensive roof garden are lichens and mosses. 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

This type of roof garden has deeper soil, and can support a larger variety of plants. It can therefore be decorated more easily than the extensive roof garden. The soil is heavier in a semi-extensive roof garden, and requires a stronger structure in order to support it. One could plant sedums in this type of garden. These are succulents that can store water in their tissues. That means you won’t need to go out and water them every day – but during times of drought, they could die and turn patchy if not properly cared for. On a semi-extensive roof garden, you can also plant wildflowers that can grow without any maintenance.

Intensive Roof Garden

This type of roof garden can support trees and elaborate arrangements. Intensive roof gardens require large, strong structures to support them. Most homes are not suitable for this type of roof garden, but they can be found on concrete buildings and on top of roof decks. There’s no limit to what you can plant in an intensive roof garden, so long as the structure of the building can support the weight.

Vegetation Blankets

Another interesting option for green roofing is the use of Vegetation Blankets. For more information, see Vegetation for Roof and Ground Covering. Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wengs/ / CC BY 2.0

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Vegetation blankets can be used to create green roofs, but they aren’t limited to just that.

A vegetation blanket consists of a layer of fiber covered in a substrate on which plant life can live; with various plant species growing on it.

These blankets can be used to cover roofs, roundabouts, sound barrier walls, and embankments – to name a few.  They can literally be rolled up for transport and then unrolled on top of the surface you wish to cover.

Due to their flexibility, they are also versatile and can lie over a curved roof, a sloping surface, or just about any otherwise awkward area.  They are light-weight, insulating, and low-maintenance.

What’s more, they are quite eco-friendly.  A green roof can be used to absorb and evaporate water runoff that would otherwise be wasted – or even worse, that would flood sewer systems and pollute rivers (as is the case in Portland, Oregon, for example).

Furthermore, a roof which is covered in live vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide and emits oxygen, thus helping to restore balance on a carbon-heavy planet that currently needs all the vegetation and plant life we can put on it.

For more information on vegetation blankets, where to get them, related services, and other details, please see this product description of Sedum Vegetation Blankets.

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For Roof and Ground Covering

Sedum Vegetation Blankets

The Sempergreen® vegetation blankets consist of a coconut fiber blanket, a layer of substrate, and various sedum species.

The growth and development of the plants creates an integrated blanket.

Sedum has water-storing leaves and therefore can withstand harsh environments. By combining creepers and ground covering plants you can alternate between growing and blooming. An additional advantage is that these plants can withstand extreme weather conditions. To add diversity, you can also have grass and herbs growing in the vegetation blankets.

Extensive Roof Gardens & More

Sempergreen® vegetation blankets can be applied to nearly every roof. Is your roof sloped or is it a flat roof? Our lightweight and insulating green roofs provide instant and spectacular results. With its rapid application and instant effect, the vegetation blanket feels at home immediately on any roof. In addition, the purchase and maintenance costs are most competitive even compared to bulk and modular roofs, while offering 85% coverage instantly. The blankets have a protective function such that green roofs last two to three times longer and you save a great deal on energy costs in summer and winter.

Green roofs, blossoming roundabouts, erosion-resistant embankments, green-covered sound barrier walls and magnificent ground covers. Sempergreen® vegetation blankets can be used everywhere. They can be applied quickly and are as good as maintenance-free. Take advantage of our 14 years of international know-how and experience to further increase the success of your vegetation blanket!

Roof Garden Products

To ensure the full success of your vegetation blankets, you can order a complete package from us. Follow-up, consulting and free project advice, and the delivery of your Sempergreen® vegetation blankets, we supply everything else that you might need for your green roof. For example: substrates, drainage material, protective sheets, foils, membranes, inspection pits and eave profiles.

Growing Together

Extensive support, straightforward advice, good products, competitive prices, excellent references and making the impossible possible… That’s how our customers know us. In addition, we are happy to be a partner to an installation contractor and not a competitor. That is the reason that we support projects free of charge and do not install down the vegetation blankets ourselves.

Why is it that our customers truly want to do business with us?

We join forces for the best possible projects results!

With Sempergreen® vegetation blankets you immediately see mature growth with little or no maintenance. A green roof with vegetation blankets has water retention of around 45-70% and provides substantial energy saving.

Other benefits are:

• Visually attractive appearance
• Simple, quick and easy to apply
• Very high growth percentage (at least 85%)
• A lightweight solution (a green roof is possible starting from 19 lbs/square foot (100 kg/m2)
• Only a thin substrate layer is needed compared to other extensive systems (2-5 inches depending on the region and the structure)
• Uniform drainage and purification of rainwater
• Resistant to nearly all weather conditions where people can live as well biodegradable
• Suitable for nearly all types of roofs and slopes
• Insulates in summer and winter
• Sound damping
• Unlike freshly planted bulk roofs its hardly sensitive to damage by birds

For more information on vegetation blankets for roof and ground covering, and for specific product information, contact:

Sempergreen USA
19315 Carrico Mills Rd
Stevensburg VA 22741
Tel.:540-399-5055
Fax :540-399-9085
office@sempergreen.com

www.sempergreen.com

Here you can also request custom-made quotes to your specifications. Do not hesitate to call us. We will gladly respond to your requests.

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Detroit – also referred to as “the city in ruins,” is shrinking.  Vast areas of land have remained unused and unwanted, and no one seems to be too interested in taking over – besides nature, that is.

New projects, however, have sprung up around the prospective ghost-town.  Taking advantage of vacant space, urban farming and organic gardening began to spread within the city.  As of August 2009, there were an estimated 875 urban gardens throughout the city.

Could Detrit become a self sustaining, green city?

More information on Detroit’s potential as a green city can be found at the following links:

• The Detroit Zen Center Turns Green Building into Green Jobs
• Green City Guide: Detroit
• Detroit’s Green Task Force

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Establishing and utilizing a home greenhouse is an excellent way to save money on groceries, follow a healthier and more nutritious diet, conserve on energy, and help the environment at the same time. But greenhouses don’t grow on trees – they have to be built. Not all of us have a professional builder in the family, or the budget to hire a specialist.

This is where greenhouse kits come in handy. If you aren’t looking for elaborate design but you need a basic and simple greenhouse for home use, this is a great way to get started without a large investment of time or money.

Greenhouse kits vary widely in cost and design. A very simple and economical variety can be found for under $40.00 or $50.00. This small greenhouse might consist of nothing more than a 2 foot square fabric tent where you can house a few plants and extend their growing season.

In this price-range, you can also find a basic enclosure system for a greenhouse, which will provide the framework and support that can then be covered in the material of your choice.

Moving up the line, you can find a more serious set-up for anywhere between $400 and $900, which includes either fabric or glass walls, and provides enough space to grow a full set of vegetables or other plants. Larger greenhouses, from 10 to 20 square feet in size, cost a few thousand dollars. But this might still be far simpler than building the entire structure on your own.

Once you’ve found and purchased the greenhouse kit that’s right for you, you will need to assemble it yourself, just as you would with any other kit. But you will have step-by-step instructions and all the parts you need, cut and sized to fit, and tested by the manufacturers.

While setting up a greenhouse requires an investment of time and money, you should be able to recoup your investment over time, providing that you actually use your greenhouse. The amount of money that can be saved by growing one’s own food is easy to underestimate – particularly where large families are concerned.

Growing food inside a greenhouse is extroverting, fun, and educational. It can make it possible for you to grow foods at all times of year, instead of being limited to certain seasons.  It can be very frustrating to go out and buy gardening equipment and seeds, only to get so busy with work that by the time you are ready to work on your garden, it is too late in the year.

A greenhouse can give you the extra leeway you need, and make it possible to have fresh home-grown vegetables year-round. It might also make it possible for you to grow the plants which normally wouldn’t grow in your region at all. Such as – who knows, habaneros in Montana?

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Proper landscaping is as important to energy and water efficiency in a home as anything else.  And eco-friendly mulch is the easiest way to keep that landscape healthy. Using mulch in flower beds, around sidewalks, and around trees is great for controlling erosion, keeping in the moisture, and making your plants look fabulous.

These days shredded tires, peanut shells, and pine bark and other recycled materials are all being used for sustainable landscaping projects instead of the traditional composition.  Of course, your environmental footprint will most likely be greater in the long run if you have to buy an eco-friendly mulch that’s been shipped halfway around the world, but there are easy ways to create mulch with your own recycled materials.

Old newspapers make great mulch. Just shred them into small strips and spread the strips around your flower bed.  Due to their tendency to clump when wet, however, its often recommended to apply them as a bottom layer, and then add different mulch on top.   They will biodegrade over time and add nutrients to the soil.

Peanut shells, if you have enough of them, also work.  They make a great mulch due to their chemical composition.  You can mix them with leaves or compost to make a nice-looking finish.  However, according to gardeners, they’re not good food for worms and therefore the natural nutrient cycling is not as effective.  What’s more, there is often a risk of mold accumulation with peanut shells that can spread to your plants and harm them.  Therefore, nut shells are not necessarily the best bet for your mulch, but they definitely work.

What about recycled rubber? Old tires are filling up landfills across the US—what better way to give them new purpose than to add them to your home’s landscaping?  You can buy preshredded rubber at your nearest garden center or you can make it yourself.  It is insect-resistant and aesthetically appealing.  Rubber mulch applications are particularly common on playgrounds, but they are just as good for your sophisticated landscape bedding.

Pine bark and pine needles are the best tree materials for mulch. They have a high moisture retaining capacity and keep away insects.  The substances’ high acidity contributes well to plants that require increased acid in the soil.   Pine bark also retains its color longer than most other tree barks, meaning that it needs to be replaced less often.

While pine makes a great mulch, other tree products that have the same characteristics might be slightly more sustainable.  Eucalyptis, for example, grows rapidly like bamboo and is highly abundant, allowing it to be harvested and regenerated in a more predictable manner than pine.  But remember, it is usually more sustainable and simple to use whatever product grows nearest you.

Unfortunately, however, mulch can never beat the advantages of the compost pile. You can create a compost bin with food waste and yard clippings, then spread it throughout your flower beds.  This is by far the most nutrient-enhancing mulch option for plants.

When in doubt, you can mix together most organic substances to create a fine looking and eco-friendly mulch.

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So you’re building a new home, or adding an addition, and you want to pursue the most sustainable options available.   Surprisingly, soy and bio-based materials have recently been spotlighted by the green building industry as an eco-friendly alternative to traditional insulation like fiberglass.   Home and Garden TV recently featured a home being sprayed with white goop in between the 2-by-4s of the new walls that expands as it dries.  Soy insulation is apparently safer for human health and for the environment.  It might even cut back on the amount of wood needed for construction, as the substance’s insulating properties are so great.  And, as a biopolymer, soy won’t support the growth of mold or attract hungry critters living in your basement.

With bio-based building products, there is no risk of coming into contact with formaldehydes or VOCs (volatile organic compounds).  It has proven very effective for people with severe allergies. As far as energy efficiency, it has a high thermal insulation capacity to keep heating bills down and fewer resources used for energy generation.

The United Soybean Board is working hard to promote the application of soy in industrial and building projects.  Currently, BioBased Insulation is one of the leading manufacturers of the soy foam insulation that is used in new construction projects.  The product is sprayed on in liquid form, dries and expands up to 100 times its original size, completely filling in all holes and giving your home air-tight protection.

If you’re looking to build up LEED credits, the soy-foam insulation can count significantly towards your certification.  Apply it towards a number of different LEED categories: Energy Efficiency, Low-Emitting Materials, Rapidly Renewable Materials, or Innovation in Design.

Another word about safety—bio-based insulation is virtually fireproof.  It has a class I rating according to the National Fire Protection Association, meaning that it won’t go up in flames.

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Up a winding dirt drive, emerging out of blooming meadows…three normal-looking houses–passive solar homes that are the start of a community where both individuality and sustainability can flower.

At White Hawk Ecovillage, living sustainably isn’t just the latest hype; it’s an everyday experience.  Green communities are not some bastion of exclusivity to which only the patchouli-scented and sanctimonious are admitted.  Now sustainable living is fully accessible to Joe Schmoe…er, rather…Joe Italiano.

Joe Italiano, father of two, perfectly normal American male, and ecovillage resident:  “Sustainable living shouldn’t be hard, and it isn’t.  It’s about simplicity, and at a place like White Hawk, learning from your neighbors.”  He notes how his neighbors are experimenting with green roofs and rainwater harvesting.  “It’s a living laboratory, so it’s easy to pick up information about what you might want to try next.”

Joe shares his 1000-square-foot home at White Hawk with his two young children and wife Julie Boerst.  “Our home and our hot water are heated with one on-demand water heater connected to a radiant heating system,” she says.  “Water for washing hands is used a second time to flush the toilet.  Both of these solutions are simple and low-cost.  Green living can and should be attainable for everyone.”

Everyone including the cable guy.  Steven Woinoski climbs ladders by day for the local cable company, and he’s the first to admit that he’s not wealthy in terms of dollars.  “We are technically low-income by government standards, so we are proof that a low-income family can live well in an ecovillage.”  Woinoski’s home is constructed from energy-efficient structural insulated panels (or SIPs) and sided with locally harvested hemlock.

From the beginning, the founding members of White Hawk Ecovillage wanted to make their community affordable and accessible.  Looking at the other available opportunities for green living in community, they saw that most people are easily edged out of pricey eco-developments.  At White Hawk, residents can design their own homes and put in sweat equity to lower the cost.  “We loved taking the lead in designing our home because it saved us money, and that’s important because we’re a one-income family.  We have also completed much of the finish work ourselves,” notes Joe Italiano.

The neighborhood at White Hawk includes thirty homesites clustered around a pedestrian walkway that encircles a common recreation area.  The developed area is about ten acres, with the remaining 110 acres of the property available to residents for hiking, farming, and any common projects they dream up, like solar showers.  Laura Woinoski appreciates the benefits of raising children in a green community.  “It’s a wonderful place for children to really prosper…like the old days when we’d just explore for hours!”

Seven children from three families play in the Woinoskis’, living room in front of a sunny expanse of south-facing windows.  “It’s such a relaxed and nice feeling here,” says Julie Boerst.  “At-home parents don’t have to guzzle gas or cram kids in the car in order to socialize.  Beyond the obvious ecological benefits, I cannot overstate the social benefits of living in a green community.”

Outside, chickens range freely, far beyond their community-built coop.  Organic gardens have popped up at White Hawk, along with compost piles and a playground.  The residents of White Hawk Ecovillage are looking forward to learning and playing with their new neighbors.  Will you be one of them?  For more information, visit http://www.whitehawk.org.

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In 2000, Battery Park City expanded its building guidelines to require all buildings to meet LEED certification requirements. A risky move at the time, it has since proven to be a boon to the neighborhood. With 8 residential buildings and one commercial building now LEED certified, some of the biggest developers moved into the area, and apartments going for 4 or 5 percent above average, Battery Park City seems to be proving that New York City is ready and eager to go green. According to Leticia Remauro, spokeswoman for the Battery Park City Authority, “People have demonstrated they prefer to live in a healthier building. They show this by their willingness to pay higher rents. We have literally changed the marketplace.”

With the most recent addition of The Visionaire residential community, developed by the Albanese Organization, Battery Park City can now boast to be home of America’s most sustainable residential community. The Albanese organization announced earlier this month that The Visionaire has been LEED platinum certified by the USGBC with the highest score of any residential community in the United States. The aesthetically pleasing and well-located building features a roof garden for rain catchment and insulation, solar panels for energy harvest, natural gas powered central heating and cooling systems, and in-building water filtration and wastewater treatment systems, too name a few. And this is the only the most recent of the Albanese Organization’s sustainable developments in Battery Park City. They also developed LEED Gold certified residential community The Solaire and the first LEED Platinum certified residential high rise in the U.S., The Verdesian. With the combination of the highest standards of sustainability, perfect design, and prime Manhattan location, The Visionaire and its siblings are proving that sustainable is not only doable in the big city, but also comfortable and stylish. So thank you, Battery Park City, for leading the way.

Check out some of the other LEED certified buildings in New York City: Archstone Clinton, The Octagon, and the Kalahari.

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