Ten Parks recreation centers, including three in Brooklyn, will be getting green roofs. The planting will be based on two regional plant communities:
Each system will include 12 experimental plots, 85 square feet each, with soil depths ranging from 4 to 6 inches.
Each plot will be planted with a species mix from two native plant communities, the Hempstead Plains (Long Island) and Rocky Summit Grasslands (e.g. Bear Mountain) of the New York City region. These models were chosen because they are meadows, have plants that can tolerate the desiccated soils and high winds typical of roof conditions, and provide prime foraging for native insects and birds.
– A Green Roof Is Coming To A Recreation Center Near You!, Daily Plant, 2010-05-06
Here are the species they’ve specified from each community:
Hempstead Plains:
- Schizachyrium scoparium, Little bluestem (Grass)
- Panicum virgatum, Switchgrass
- Sorghastrum nutans, Indian grass
- Baptisia tinctoria, Yellow wild indigo
- Solidago nemoralis, Gray goldenrod
- Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly-weed
- Eupatorium hyssopifolium, Hyssop-leaved boneset
- Rubus flagellaris, North Dewberry
Rocky Summit Grasslands:
- Carex pensylvanica, Pennsylavania sedge
- Danthonia spicata, Poverty-oat grass
- Deschampsia flexuosa, Common Hairgras
- Lespedeza capitata, Bush-clover
- Lysimachia quadrifolia, Whorled loosestrife
- Cunila origanoides, Stone-mint, Dittany
- Solidago odora, Licorice-goldenrod
- Vaccinium angustifolium, Low-bush blueberry
Cunila origanoides is one of the three native plant species that were given away at the kickoff for NYC Wildflower Week last Saturday in Union Square. It’s in the Lamiaceae, the Mint Family. Its leaves smell like oregano. (The other two species were Thalictrum pubescens and Hystrix patula.)
I would expect that these plants have been propagated at the Greenbelt Native Plant Center. I’m trying to confirm that.
Related Content
Greenbelt Native Plant Center, Staten Island, 2010-05-03
NYC Wildflower Week, 5/1-5/9, 2010-04-29
Links
A Green Roof Is Coming To A Recreation Center Near You!, Daily Plant, 2010-05-06