At Ecobuild on 1st of March 2011 there were seminars on live demonstrations, talks and ‘ask the expert’ sessions, taking an holistic view of greening the urban environment, from mobilising the local community to the ins and outs of creating vertical gardens, growing urban food and urban trees for SUDs and biofiltration.

There were lots of different talks from many private companies and Landscape Institute. Some included John Little, director of The Grass Roof Company; Nigel Dunnett, director of The Green roof Company, author of many landscape books and staff from department of Landscape on university of Sheffield.

I showed a special interest in SUDS, rain and roof gardens which were also part of my final essay at Kingston university.

Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS)

SUDS are sustainable development of draining surface water and include porous surfaces, soak ways, filter drains and strips, infiltration trenches and purpose built ponds and waste lands. SUDS reduce flood risk, improving water quality, create wildlife habitats and offer better places to live. There are so many aspects when designing SUDS. When purpose build ponds and wastelands are designed important role for SUDS is vegetation. Specification of planting is used to resist the wet conditions and help in water filtration. Also SUDS are very important for environment by restoring the natural diversity and maintaining natural sources. (www.ciria.com/suds)

Rain gardens

Without water there is not life. Like humans plants need water to thrive. So many people spend times watering plants in their gardens during dry periods. However the weather can change dramatically. A lot of rain and storm water can create flooding. Managing the water is very important in landscape design. Rain gardens can prevent moderate flooding and manage the water sustainability. Rain gardens are designed with flood resistant shrubs, flowers and grasses. The main function is to collect and filter the storm water runoff. Also these gardens can create a beautiful landscape and attract wildlife such as butterflies and birds. A rain garden relies on planting, the more diverse the better is the benefit. Usually designers choose mainly native plants, but there is not functional reason that native plants can be better from non-native (Dunnett 2007). Generally speaking plants from around the world can be used with native plants together in designing rain gardens. However the most important fact is that we should choose plants that suit the growing conditions in this country and are flood resistant. As we know usually the native plants can be better adapted to these conditions. However a good mixture of plants can create a functional and amazing rain garden. For example flowering perennials, grasses and small shrubs can be an ideal mix for attracting wildlife and create a rich water based habitat into rain gardens.

Rain gardens provide a visual and sensory pleasure and are good for play, especially for children. In New England, USA a study about the children’s attitudes to their natural environment discovered that: “the most important qualities to the children were sand/dirt, small shallow ponds or brooks of water...” (Hart 1979). This study can have an influence for us as landscape architects in designing rain gardens that are child friendly and engage play environment. However when planning we should consider the main functions of rain gardens on transporting the water into it, storage it and realising it slowly to the soil and environment.

Roof gardens

Roof gardens (or green roof) are layers of plants installed on the top of buildings, garden sheds, or any other structure that has a roof. With the aesthetic and beauty and wildlife attraction the other function of green roofs it to reduce the amount of run-off water from rain and moderate storms. The green roofs are nothing new, the grasses and some other type of plants were used by Scandinavians in their log cabins.

The last century green roofs are becoming increasingly important. Usually in urban areas the outdoor space is small or restricted, so green roofs are the best possibility of creating the garden space with plants and wildlife. A very large variety of plant selection can be used in the roof gardens. (Dunnett, 2007)

According to Dr Nigel Dunnett (Dunnett, 2007), (a teacher, horticulturist and expert in rain and roof gardens) plants used in roof gardens can vary from the depth of the soil. Extensive green roofs are the most common types with a depth between 2cm -10cm. This roof type includes sedum spp (species), mosses, short wildflower meadows, grasses, alpines and small bulbs. Plants that are commonly used are hardy and drought tolerant. This means that they can resist the climate change from hot and dry summer to cold and wet winter. What makes this type of the roof commonly used is the less time and effort on building them and the maintenance being very simple. Another similar type of roof garden is semi-extensive green roofs, which have a greater depth, usually between 10cm -20cm. In this group can be used the same type of vegetation as in extensive green roofs, but other plants such as hardy sub-shrubs, medium perennials and annuals can be a possibility. Intensive green roof is another type that requires a high maintenance and a very strong structure to hold the amount of soil that can vary from 20cm to 1m. The depth of the soil allows designers to use a large variety of plants including edible plants, shrubs, small deciduous trees and conifers. (Dunnett 2003). Both rain and roof gardens play a great role towards biodiversity and wildlife.

The photos bellow are taken for Ecobuild on 1st march 2011