Ed Snodgrass, Green Roofer to the World

Green roofs are finally hot, hot in the U.S. and Emory Knoll Farms is working hard to fill 'em with plants.  The only nursery in N. America dedicated exclusively to supplying plants for green roofs, it has 230 projects under its belt - in the U.S. and around the world - and business is booming.  That's our Business Section report.

The Home Section might include the findings that green roofs hold up better than traditional roofs in the leak department.  Seems counter-intuitive but it's the heat, stupid!  All that growing medium and all those plants keep the roofing membrane much cooler, not to mention protected from puncture by flying objects and humans.  And now there are even green walls, built using these nifty planter components, and they're not only better looking but greener in every way.

Our Style Section story starts with the sign that greeted me on my recent visit to the Maryland nursery. (Wearing my best Frank Zappa T-shirt, I headed straight for the side door.)  And here's Ed, Mr. Green Roof himself.  His family's farmed this land since - would you believe? - 1709.  Not long ago Ed put 60 of his 145 acres into an agricultural preservation trust  for indigenous trees and meadow.  Then to support his family he transitioned the homestead from traditional monoculture farming to the production of green roof plants using sustainable growing techniques.  So on the enviro-scale he's up there with Al Gore.

Now the A Section should but probably wouldn't tell you that with global warming, green roof plants may become our most popular garden plants.  And what ARE the world's most drought-tolerant hardy plants?  Mostly sedums, plus ice plants and chives.  They're watered in just once after installation and never again.  My kind of plant.  (Check their website for lots more info.)

Having read all about Chicago's great adventures in greening, including on its rooftops, I was surprised to learn that D.C. has more greenroof acreage than any U.S. city, thanks to the sheer size of its buildings.  That's because the decidedly unsexy agency in charge of federal buildings (the GSA) is a BIG promoter of green roof technology (go Bureaucrats!).  And while lots of research is going on in green roof engineering, on the hort side of the picture - not so much.  So Ed here puts on his lab coat, teams up with some universities, and does the research.

Finally, the Book Section.  Sometimes good things happen to good people and in this case Timber Press jumped at the chance to publish Ed (and  wife Lucie's) book, being released this week.  Advance orders are being taken.  Now let's all place our orders and demonstrate to the publishing world the immense reach of a gardenblogger endorsement! 

[Photos: On the right, a green roof at Harvard with wooden walkway and what looks like a hottub but is probably a seating area. On the left, a really cool roof coincidentally on my street, plants supplied by Emory Knoll.  Harvard photo by Ed Snodgrass of Emory Knoll Farm.]

Comments

[D.S Knight]

This is amazing. I grew up in northern Maryland and worked for a few years at manor view farms. My friend Marc and I have been working in the landscape and construction fields for a long time. Marc lives in Baltimore and I live in Asheville NC. Both of us have been very excited about these ideas for some time. Marc has some very interested clients and would love to bounce some ideas and make these things happen in both areas. I will be in Baltimore soon and I would love to visit the farm and talk more. Keep up the good work!

[Shirley Friberg]

You may offend some people, especially outside the U.S., by the trying to be clever and funny with the (stupid) remark. I wanted to copy this to a company but will have to alter it as it sounds juvenile.