Having a garden on your roof isn’t just nice for a garden party; it can make your city more environmentally friendly. Many American cities are beginning to incorporate greenroofs into their planning ordinances because they recognize that, planting a rooftop garden can offset heat, increase city biodiversity and decrease stormwater runoff. This runoff can be problematic in cities where rainwater is funneled by streets and parking lots directly into streams, carrying with it chemicals and debris and increasing the risk of flash floods.
But the plants on greenroofs can absorb some of this water – “like a sponge being saturated,” says Olyssa Starry, a graduate student at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. Starry studied a greenroof atop a Baltimore building in comparison to a similar building without a greenroof to determine how well the roof would absorb water from frequent storms. By measuring water flowing out of building downspouts, she found that the greenroof retained from 30 to 75 percent of water from storms, compared to a negligible amount retained by the building with no greenroof.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090803083628.htm
I love this. As a former nurseryman, and an avid gardener, I am reminded that the world began in a garden, and ends in a city. But the city should be full of the garden!
Comment by Don Bailey — November 13, 2009 @ 10:58 pm
[...] Plus just think of how cool that would have been when you were a kid riding your bike through the neighborhood! Read the original post HERE. [...]
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