WANTED: MORE GREEN ROOFS AND WALLS

By adding green roofs and walls to properties, we can super-boost biodiversity. This seems obvious, so why are we not doing it? As an ecological consultancy and estates management company, we consistently recommend the addition of green roofs and walls to new builds and existing structures, and just as consistently we are asked to remove such a recommendation.  This is despite there being more and more suppliers of green roof and wall “kits”, instructions and the plants needed that will thrive in such situations[1]. As well as providing extra green habitats for flora and fauna in urban and peri-urban areas, green roofs and walls help to insulate buildings, saving you energy. That is something of great relevance in these times of sky high heating bills, even after costs of maintenance are considered.

Here is an extract from our leaflet on Green Roofs – contact us for the full sheet.

• Mats and pre-planted modules may be quicker to install but allow time for establishment;
• Success needs correct balance of species, climate and substratum;
• Maintenance needs to be an integral part of a green roof for long term success;
• Hand weed in the early stages – don’t let invasive weeds out-compete planted material;
• Slow-release fertilizer is recommended during establishment;
• Watering will be needed until the plant community is established;
• Avoid planting in cold and/or dry weather;
• Planting medium may be susceptible to wind erosion in dry, windy areas – use heavier substrata plus initial irrigation.

ROCK PLANTS

Biting stonecrop, Breckland thyme, chives & other wild onions, common houseleek, common rockrose, hen-and-chickens, lavender, meadow saxifrage, mountain alison, mountain avens, purple saxifrage, red valerian, reflexed stonecrop, snow-in-summer, tasteless stonecrop, white stonecrop, wild and other thymes, yellow alison.

STONY & DRY GRASSLAND PLANTS

Bladder campion, bloody crane’s-bill, common bird’s-foot-trefoil, common centaury, common fumitory, common mallow, fine-leaved sandwort, great mullein, harebell, hoary cinquefoil, lichens and mosses, maiden pink, marjoram, mouse-ear hawkeed, perforate St. John’s-wort, sheep’s-bit scabious, thrift, thyme-leaved sandwort, yoadflax, wall germander, wild carrot, wild mignonette, yarrow, yellow chamomile. 

GRASSES/SEDGES

Alpine meadow-grass, blue moor-grass, broad-leaved meadow-grass, common bent, creeping bent, crested dog’s-tail, dwarf sedge, glaucous sedge, red fescue, sheep’s fescue, smooth meadow-grass, upright brome, wavy hair-grass, yellow oat-grass, yorkshire-fog.

[1] There is also a Green Roof Code available at https://livingroofs.org/code-practice-green-roof-organisation/

Betts Ecology hope that attitudes to green roofs and walls will change. Other countries such as Germany are way ahead of us. There are some signs that the situation is improving and we shall continue to try to persuade builders, developers and property owners to create more. Our collapsing biodiversity demands and deserves it. 

 © Betts Ecology