Roof Garden Vs. Green Roof
A roof garden can be distinguished from a green roof, although the two terms are often used interchangeably. The term roof garden is well suited to roof spaces that incorporate recreation, entertaining, and provide additional outdoor living space for the building's residents. It may include planters, plants, dining and lounging furniture, outdoor structures such as pergolas and sheds, and automated irrigation and lighting systems.
Although they may provide aesthetic and recreational benefits a green roof is not necessarily designed for this purpose. A green roof may not provide any recreational space and be constructed with an emphasis towards improving the insulation or improving the overall energy efficiency and reducing the cooling and heating costs within a building.
Green roofs may be extensive or intensive (refer http://www.elmich.com.au/greenroofsystems/about.php). The terms are used to describe the type of planting required. The panels that comprise a green roof are generally no more than a few inches up to a foot in depth, since weight is an important factor when covering an entire roof surface. The plants that go into a green roof are usually sedum or other shallow-rooted plants that will tolerate the hot, dry, windy conditions that prevail on most rooftop gardens. With a green roof, "the plants layer can shield off as much as 87% of solar radiation while a bare roof receives 100% direct exposure".
The planters on a roof garden may be designed for a variety of functions and vary greatly in depth to satisfy aesthetic and recreational purposes. These planters can hold a range of ornamental plants: anything from trees, shrubs, vines, or an assortment of flowers. As aesthetics and recreation are the priority they may not provide the environmental and energy benefits of a green roof.
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Famous quotes containing the words roof, garden and/or green:
“The roof of England fell
Great Paris tolled her bell
And China staunched her milk and wept for bread”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)
“The garden flew round with the angel,
The angel flew round with the clouds,
And the clouds flew round and the clouds few round
And the clouds flew round with the clouds.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Gray, dear friend, is all theory,
But green the golden tree of life.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)