Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
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Wednesday - January 14, 2009
From: Halifax, NS
Region: Canada
Topic: Green Roofs
Title: Best performing species on green roofs
Answered by: Dr. Mark Simmons and Joe Marcus
QUESTION:
Hello, I am a graduate student in Nova Scotia Canada studying native plant communities on green roofs. I have been reading about the native planted green roof at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and am interested to know how well the native plants performed and survived in your region of the world. Thank you, and great website!ANSWER:
We wish we could give you a more definitive answer, but it's still a bit too early. Right now we are still analyzing the data. There is considerable variation both among plant types and among roof types (i.e. a plant that does well on one roof type may do poorly on another). Although there are many exceptions, overall, as a guide, the grasses seem to do the best. The list can be found at http://www.wildflower.org/collections/collection.php?collection=greenroof_species
More Green Roofs Questions
Plants for green roof in Laredo
August 22, 2008 - Hello, I am working on a green roof, and I saw your section of "Native Green Roof", and I saw good plants that I would like to use, but I am not sure if they will be suitable because of the roots (m...
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plants for a green roof
June 12, 2011 - Dear Mr. Smarty Plants,
We have a small, homemade green roof with a 4" medium on our sunroom, which faces south, however, a portion is partially shaded a Sweet Gum tree. Native Iris cristata, phlox...
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Plants for green roof gardens in Beijing, China
April 20, 2006 - I`m wondering if you would know what plants native to the area around Beijing China would be good candidates for extensive green roof gardens? Also, do you think that those hearty little pesky plants ...
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Planning and designing a green roof from Austin
April 30, 2011 - I am in the planning stage to decide about planting a green roof as part of new construction. My ideal plant life on the green roof would have minimal root structure (deeper roots mean deeper soil mea...
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Soil mixes for green roofs
November 23, 2008 - We are trying to set up a green roof system on our own. What do you suggest for soil? It seems the soils are proprietary and unavailable to individuals.
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