Host an Event Volunteer Join Tickets

Support the plant database you love!

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Share

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants
See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

 
rate this answer
Not Yet Rated

Friday - March 10, 2006

From: Bowie, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Wildflower Center
Title: Information on green roof demonstration site at Wildflower Center
Answered by: Nan Hampton and Mark Simmons

QUESTION:

I visited your green roof demonstration site and am interested in putting a green roof on a structure. There seemed to be at least two layers of growing medium in the planters; one layer looked like rounded pumice or rounded brick fragments and I believe it was below the drip irrigation lines and the other looked like a growing medium. Could you explain what each layer does and where I could get the stuff in bulk?

ANSWER:

Our expert, Mark Simmons, thinks the layers you are referring to are merely the gravitational settlement of the media (synthetic soil) following rain events. The composition of each of these media is proprietary; however, contacting the suppler Siplast may help. We are in the process of creating more infomation about this experiment as it gets set-up over the the next month or so. If you haven't seen it already, please visit our Green Roof Gardening page.
 

More Wildflower Center Questions

Sale of plants at the Wildflower Center
March 20, 2004 - Does the Wildflower Center sell plants?
view the full question and answer

Purchase of herbs from Wildflower Center
October 18, 2008 - Can I purchase herbs from the Wildflower Center?
view the full question and answer

Hungry turtles trample pond in Houston Texas
October 17, 2011 - I have a very large back yard pond (actually, a former swimming pool) that's home to a bullfrog, four Red-eared slider turtles, and scads of gambusia (little mosquito eating fish). I'd like to add n...
view the full question and answer

Color of Englemann's daisy (Engelmannia peristenia)
April 11, 2010 - I'm in Austin and just bought some Engelmann's Daisies at the plant sale on Fri. The picture had them with white petals, and your plant database has them with yellow petals. I specifically wanted wh...
view the full question and answer

True date for Earth Day
March 09, 2006 - My grandson asked me to verify the correct date for Earth Day 2006. Sites on the internet say (a) Earth Day USA is April 22, 2006. (b) International Earth Day is M...
view the full question and answer

Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today.