Source: www.TurfMagazine.com
Used to promising customers green grass, MRW Lawns in La Plata, Md., has greened something else: its roof.
Planted with hardy vegetation, the roof of the company’s office is the only one of its kind in Charles County, company officials said. The technology helps capture rainwater and keep the building cool in summer, people involved in the project said.
The roof is planted with 12 species of sedum, a genus of drought-resistant succulent plant, and chives. During this summer’s drought, MRW watered the roof once, but otherwise it holds its own, said Rick LaNore, company technical director, and Rodney Chaney of Tecta America, the Jessup company that installed the garden.
Charles County regulations required stormwater management improvements before building on the site, and since there wasn’t room for a catchment pond, and rain gardens, areas planted with water-tolerant vegetation, would have been cumbersome, the company settled on greening the roof of the building.