The growth and survival of plants in urban green roofs in a dry climate
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2014
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Razzaghmanesh, M.
Beecham, S.
Kazemi, F.
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Journal article
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Science of the Total Environment, 2014; 476-477:288-297
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Green roofs as one of the components of water-sensitive urban design have become widely used in recent years.This paper describes performance monitoring of four prototype-scale experimental green roofs in a northernsuburb of Adelaide, South Australia, undertaken over a 1-year period. Four species of indigenous Australianground cover and grass species comprising Carpobrotus rossii, Lomandra longifolia ‘Tanika,’ Dianella caerula‘Breeze’ and Myoporum parvifolium were planted in extensive and intensive green roof configurations usingtwo different growing media. The first medium consisted of crushed brick, scoria, coir fibre and compostedorganics while the second comprised scoria, composted pine bark and hydro-cell flakes. Plant growth indicesincluding vertical and horizontal growth rate, leaf succulence, shoot and root biomasses, water use efficiencyand irrigation regimes were studied during a 12-month period. The results showed that the succulent species,C. rossii, can best tolerate the hot, dry summer conditions of South Australia, and this species showed a 100% survivalrate and had the maximum horizontal growth rate, leaf succulence, shoot biomass and water use efficiency.All of the plants in the intensive green roofs with the crushed brick mix media survived during the term of thisstudy. It was shown that stormwater can be used as a source of irrigation water for green roofs during 8 monthsof the year in Adelaide. However, supplementary irrigation is required for some of the plants over a full annualcycle.
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Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Access Condition Notes: Postprint only available open access on 1 April 2016