Extensive roof greening: structure & suitable plants for a blooming green roof are presented

The roof of your garden house or garage looks far too boring? Then just plant it. This not only ensures a real eye-catcher in your garden, you also create a habitat for plants and animals. Extensive roof greening (as the planting of a roof is also called) has many more advantages. You can find out what these are in this article.

1Green roofs help improve the climate

You have probably already seen one or the other planted roof. That looks nice, doesn't it? But it also has many advantages. It protects the roof waterproofing from extreme temperatures as well as wind and weather influences and thus extends its service life. On top of that, it protects against heat in summer and cold in winter. In addition, the sewage system is relieved when it rains, habitats are created for animals and the climate is improved by filtering air pollutants and fine dust.

2What does extensive roof greening mean?

A distinction is made between intensive and extensive green roofs:

➜ Intensive green roof:
An intensive green roof is mainly used for roof gardens and used roofs. So talk about roofs on which you can also stay. The roof substrate is applied thicker than 20 cm, which means that plants that are demanding can also be used for planting.

➜ Extensive green roof:
An extensive green roof, on the other hand, is used on roofs that are not used. Not that much substrate is applied here either. Accordingly, the water supply is limited. The plants must therefore be undemanding and adaptable. But then they don't need any care. Incidentally, this type of green roof is also suitable for the garden house roof. Reading tip: Planting the garden house roof - Instructions for an environmentally friendly roof greening.

3Construction of an extensive green roof

If you build the substrate for the extensive green roof according to this scheme, the most beautiful plants will thrive on your roofFlower. You just have to choose the right ones. After all, they must be able to tolerate a lot of sun. Some plants are presented below that are suitable for extensive green roofs.

4Stonecrop

The yellow flowering stonecrop is perfect for extensive green roofs, because the star-shaped small flowers form a beautiful yellow carpet on the roof from May to June. Otherwise, the stonecrop is evergreen. It is very undemanding and tolerates drought particularly well.

5Heidenelke

The heather carnation is a particularly undemanding and easy-care perennial that covers the roof from June to September with an abundance of countless individual flowers. It is also a valuable food source for bees and other insects.

6Hawkweed

From a distance you might think this plant is a dandelion. But look closely and you will see the difference. The leaves are shaped differently and the stem is rougher. The hawkweed flowers between May and October and grows up to 30 centimeters high.

7Field Thyme

The wild thyme is an aromatic plant that is covered in countless flowers from June to October. Depending on the location, the perennial wild thyme grows 5 to 30 cm high. Depending on the species of wild thyme, the small flowers are pink to purple in color.

8Toadflax

Toadflax is a perennial herb that features bright yellow flowers and needle-like leaves. It blooms from July to September with the flowers looking like little snapdragons. The plant is 20 to 60 centimeters high.

9Meadow Marguerite

Meadow daisies are small white flowers that prefer to grow in meadows. But they are also ideal for extensive green roofs. They bloom from May to September and are about 50 centimeters high.

By the way: Children like to use the meadow daisy as an "oracle flower". They pluck out the petals one by one to learn about the future. According to the motto "She loves me, she loves me not, she loves me,…".

10Pineapple

The spring carnation is a plant about 30 centimeters high that has feathery leaves. Hence the name spring carnation. It blooms in a wide variety of colors from April to June. These range from a radiant white to a soft pink to an intense red.

11Perennials

The little perennial is a beautiful perennial that enchants us from June to August with its small, light blue flowers. The robust perennial plant grows to a height of approx. 50 centimeters and is very reliable.

12Golddistel

The golden thistle is a biennial plant that grows between 10 and 50 centimeters high. The thistle-like flowers appear between July and September. The plant then dies and the seeds sow themselves.

13Viperhead

The bugloss is a blue-flowering, herbaceous plant that can grow to a height of up to one meter. It looks a bit like a snake's head with a licking tongue. Hence the name Adderkopf. The plant flowers from early May to late August.

14Cypress Spurge

The cypress spurge flowers from April to June and is 15 to 30 centimeters high. The flowers are in umbels and usually have yellow leaves. But be careful: Be careful when planting, because the milky sap in the stems and leaves is highly toxic, as is the case with all other spurge species.

15sage

Sage doesn't always have to grow in the herb garden. Since the plant is very heat-loving and undemanding, it can also grow on a roof. The aromatic leaves can be harvested all year round and dried if necessary.

16Horseshoe Clover

The horseshoe vetch is a perennial, herbaceous plant that can grow up to 25 centimeters high. The umbelliferous inflorescences have five to twelve flowers and are bright yellow.

17Cowder

The goose cress is a robust and hardy plant that also thrives on poor soil. Perfect for green roofs. It reaches a total height of between 10 and 20 centimeters and usually white flowers from April/May.

18Ysander

Many also know the Ysander under the name Dickmännchen. It is a carpet-forming, bushy perennial that can reach a height of about 20 centimeters. From April the inflorescences develop small white flowers.

19Mountain Aster

The mountain aster is actually at home in mountainous heights. But the alpine perennial also thrives splendidly here. And that without much effort, because the Bergaster is exceptionally easy to care for. It blooms in a beautiful shade of lilac from August to September and can grow up to 50 centimeters high.

20Columbine

The main flowering time of the columbine is in May. At this time, the plant enchants us with flowers in white, pink, purple, blue, yellow, orange and red. It can grow up to 80 centimeters high and loves sunny locations. But beware: this plant is also poisonous.

21Yarrow

Yarrow is a hardy perennial that belongs to the daisy family and flowers in many different colors. These range from a soft pink to a bright pink to a strong red. It can grow up to 100 centimeters and flowers from July to September.

22Feather Grass

The feather bristle grass is also called lamp cleaner grass and is very decorative. The reason for this is the attractive inflorescences, which are referred to as false spikes because of their appearance. They bloom from mid-July to late October. The plant itself can reach a height of up to 120 centimeters.

23Silver spike grass

Silver spike grass is a very beautiful ornamental grass that has tail-like, brown panicles of flowers on its arching stalks. The flowering period of the silver spike grass falls between June and September. It can grow up to 60 centimeters high. Here you can find out which ornamental grasses are particularly beautiful.

24Leek

The leek comes with large, dark purple flowers that appear from May to June. These are many star-shaped flowers that together form a sphere. That looks really nice, don't you think?

25Sedum Plants

Sedum plants are undemanding thick-leafed plants that often prefer very warm locations in full sun. That is why they are perfect for green roofs. There are hundreds of different species that have different growth heights, leaf colors and flowering times. If you can't decide, it's best to simply choose a sedum sprout mixture for greening roof areas from the trade (available here, for example). So you can't go wrong.