Plants for Roof Gardens

By Natural Home Staff
Published on December 2, 2009

Not all plants thrive on roofs, where conditions can be harsh. Look for varieties suited to your hardiness zone. Choose drought-tolerant plants, but not those with deep root systems. Here are a handful that thrive in most climates, especially high-altitude, dry climates such as Montana.

• Basket of Gold (Alyssum montanum ‘Mountain Gold’)

• Cacti (Escobaria leei ‘Lee’s dwarf snowball’)

• Hens and chicks (Sempervivum spp.)

• Ice plant (Delosperma)

• Native grasses (Buffalo grass, bluestem, blue grama, perennial ryegrass, blue fescue)

• Creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera)

• Sedum (Sedum spp.): ‘Dragon’s Blood’, ‘Tri-colored’, ‘Golden Carpet’, ‘Angelina’, ‘Stonecrop’)

• Thymes (Thymus vulgaris): ‘Wooly’, ‘Pink Chintz’, ‘Creeping Pink’, ‘Elfin’)

• Snow-in-Summer (Cerastium tomentosum)

Source: Green Roof Plants: A Resource and Planting Guide by Edmund and Lucie Snodgrass (Timber Press, 2006)

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