From Booklist
Green roofs are a hot topic, and one that constitutes a trend extending well beyond the world of gardening. This sourcebook brings together a fascinating amount of data, covering the actual logistics of how to implement plantings on roofs and building facades. Dunnett and Kingsbury look at examples of ornamental projects while stressing the concept's solid link to the environment. Examinations of recent research underline the wide-ranging benefits of greening buildings, from recreational aspects to increased energy efficiency. Among the most positive changes to emerge are improvements in the air we breathe and the support of biodiversity. Given the lively current interest in how to extend living ecosystems that reach beyond the ground plane to the upper stories of our homes and office buildings, this resource offers important technical advice, along with horticultural recommendations pertinent to flat or sloped roofs and the greening of vertical surfaces. Undoubtedly, other manuals will appear as an interest in living roofs increases. At present, the material compiled here will be welcomed by a wide audience. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
Planting on roofs and walls is one of the most innovative and fast-developing fields within horticulture and the built environment. This authoritative book explores the very latest roof and wall greening techniques. The environmental benefits of roof greening are now widely understood including their value in reducing pollution and run-off, insulating against heat and cold, and reducing the maintenance needs of buildings. Modern building construction allows a dovetailing of plants, buildings, and people, hitherto impossible with older technologies, sparking a surge of interest. Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls describes the historical development of both large-scale commercial and small domestic examples from all over the world. It also provides an introduction to the practical techniques required for constructing green roofs including weight-bearing considerations, materials, substrates, draining layers, modular systems, and plants. A chapter devoted to planting considers plant choice in some depth and outlines key characteristics that make certain plants suitable for the extreme conditions encountered on roofs: drought, high light intensity, and wind. Planting on walls requires completely different techniques. The book explores both façade greening, where plants grow up steel structures pinned to the wall, and living walls, where plants either establish themselves in the wall itself or are able to survive independently on the wall structure without rooting. With climate and environmental concerns increasingly in the public eye, this informative book answers all the technical questions and will inspire gardeners, architects, environmentalists, and home maintenance enthusiasts to incorporate green roofs and walls in their forthcoming projects.
About the Author
Nigel Dunnett is a senior lecturer in the Department of Landscape at the University of Sheffield where he has developed innovative research programmes into naturalistic and ecologically-informed planting for gardens and public landscapes. He writes regularly for leading horticultural magazines and journals and lectures widely throughout the U.K. He lives in Sheffield. Noël Kingsbury is well known as a writer on plants and gardens. He has always been firmly in the vanguard of new developments, in particular playing a major role in popularizing a more naturalistic and sustainable planting style, with The New Perennial Garden (Frances Lincoln 1996). With designer Piet Oudolf he wrote Designing with Plants (Timber Press 2000). He is associated with the Landscape Department at the University of Sheffield, as part of his active involvement in promoting quality planting in public spaces.
Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls FROM THE PUBLISHER
Planting on roofs and walls is one of the most innovative and fast-developing fields within horticulture and the built environment. This authoritative book explores the very latest roof and wall greening techniques.
The environmental benefits of roof greening are now widely understood including their value in reducing pollution and run-off, insulating against heat and cold, and reducing the maintenance needs of buildings. Modern building construction allows a dovetailing of plants, buildings, and people, hitherto impossible with older technologies, sparking a surge of interest.
Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls describes the historical development of both large-scale commercial and small domestic examples from all over the world. It also provides an introduction to the practical techniques required for constructing green roofs including weight-bearing considerations, materials, substrates, draining layers, modular systems, and plants. A chapter devoted to planting considers plant choice in some depth and outlines key characteristics that make certain plants suitable for the extreme conditions encountered on roofs: drought, high light intensity, and wind.
Planting on walls requires completely different techniques. The book explores both facade greening, where plants grow up steel structures pinned to the wall, and living walls, where plants either establish themselves in the wall itself or are able to survive independently on the wall structure without rooting.
With climate and environmental concerns increasingly in the public eye, this informative book answers all the technical questions and will inspire gardeners, architects, environmentalists, and home maintenance enthusiasts to incorporate green roofs and walls in their forthcoming projects.
SYNOPSIS
Gardeners who battle ivy may be surprised that non-native species have a role in eco-roof and living wall plant communities. Advocates of naturalistic sustainable gardening (affiliated with the landscape department of the University of Sheffield, UK) introduce this trend in horticulture and building design. They describe its environmental advantages, historical development, and construction techniques, and feature a plant-selection directory and color photos of commercial and home applications. Resources include U.S. and European suppliers of materials, and recommended reading. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Living in a Chicago high rise with a green roof measuring almost an acre makes this reviewer slightly less objective about these imaginative additions to cityscapes around the world. Dunnett (landscape, Univ. of Sheffield, U.K.) and Kingsbury (coauthor, Designing with Plants) certainly encourage enthusiasm with this fact-rich, well-illustrated, and accessible book on roofs and walls alive with plants. Divided into two parts (roofs and walls, respectively), the book provides plenty of details on construction-no small matter in minimizing the burden on a roof-and plant selection. In fact, plant selection is so important to both roofs and walls that the authors have included appendixes describing the kinds of plants best suited to these exotic locales. An outstanding work and another fine production from Timber Press, this book will certainly become the standard reference on the topic.-Edward J. Valauskas, Lib. & Plant Information Office, Chicago Botanic Garden Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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