Blog

This week, my friends at Diedem allowed me to see some pretty special rooftops with established plantings. The first was was a ten-acre roof atop a new water treatment plant - the roof was planted one year ago. The second was an upscale residential roof top garden in a suburb of Budapest.

This water treatment plant used an extensive green roof that was primarily sedum species, but also has blue fescue grass. Through the center, they included raised bed planters using small trees and shrubs. Some unusual features of this location included a very thin soil layer. The main soil beds were only 2 inches deep. This is not only on the shallow side of even an extensive green roof, but this roof also did not have any watering system except for the tree plantings. This is impressive considering that Budapest has very hot dry summers similar to Portland, Oregon.

The suburban roof garden was a beautiful roof top in a residential region. The owner, Csaba Orbán, graciously allowed us into his home to view the garden. The roof had acess via a large pop-up lid at the top of a staircase. This lid also doubled as a skylight. This garden was about 20 by 60 feet in size and included trees, shrubs and lawn areas. The garden was constructed using Diedem products similar to standard roof plantings only a bit more rugged. Being on top of this tall home gave great views while still providing a secluded garden sitting area. I'm excited to use some of these ideas with homeowners here in the Northwest.

Steve