This spring I teamed up with fellow MLA student Zhihan to help maintain the green roof. At the beginning of the semester we completed the plant list based on former student’s work. The Langford A Building green roof, set up by previous students, is divided into 3 sections: edible palnts, succulents, and prairie. Each of us also recommended 3 new succulent species to the plant list. Then we went to the rooftop and planted these new species. Afterwards we did the evaluation on the plants for Prof. Dvorak’s research. We also did weeding for the modules and helped set up the irrigation system for the edible section.
Helping with the edible garden. Photo credit: Zhihan Tao
What’s different from the regular class
- First I learn about several green roof plants. I took HORT courses before and there is no introduction to specific green roof plants. This is because there is not enough research conducted. With Prof. Dvorak’s work we are learning what plant species are good for green roof in Texas.
- Get my hands dirty. I planted the plants in modules and did weeding. Planting plants is more fun than learning their characteristics in regular class. For planting the plants in modules, I learned from Prof. Dvorak that the same species should be planted in one module for observation and demonstration purposes.
- Set up irrigation system. We helped Dr. Merrill set up the irrigation system with his edible plants section. We learned how to draw irrigation plan in the construction course, it’s really fun to take actions and build the system from the scratch like cutting pipes. Seeing the nozzles sprinkling is a very beautiful moment.
Photo credit: Zhihan Tao
Overall, working on the rooftop is a very worthy experience in the MLA program.
Texas A&M's Green Roof Project 