The Green Learning Station is home to four types of vegetated roof systems, or green roofs. The types of systems you can see on our site are:
Green roofs use sponge-like soil and plants to suck up rain, keeping it out of our sewer system and decreasing combined sewer overflows. But that’s not all, they also:
extensive: a shallow green roof, usually less than 6″ of growing medium
growing medium: soil engineered to be light weight and absorbent, usually comprised of expanded shale (halite), sand and compost
intensive: a shallow green roof, usually more than 8″ of growing medium
plugs: small plants with a root area the size of your thumb
sedum: a large genus of flowering plants that are succulents (store water in their leaves) and tend to be drought tolerant and prefer well-drained soils, also known as stonecrops
sedum carpet: a coconut fiber mat embedded with soil and planted with sedums that can be rolled out onto a roof, giving it instant plant coverage