It truly was a team effort last Friday on a section of north-exposure roof at the Memorial Union. A former gravel-topped roof, approximately 15 feet by 60 feet, was replaced with a green roof – in this case, 1-foot by 2-feet trays of 2-year-old sedum and allium varieties that are both shade and drought tolerant. With funding from the MU and the Government of the Student Body, logistical support from facilities planning and management and Central States Roofing of Ames, and plantings from Roof Top Sedums in Davenport, student volunteers with various green connections placed about 350 trays of plantings on a cool, drizzly day. The roof design was created by senior horticulture student Miles Thompson (pictured below), who happens to work in the MU and long coveted the roof as a great location for a green roof (it's the primary entrance to the building from the parking ramp). The MU green roof joins these others on campus: King Pavilion, Horticulture Hall, a Bissell Road bus stop and the Biorenewables Research Laboratory. Photos by Bob Elbert.
P.S. Thompson not only is fond of green roofs; he's also a Cyclone fan. See it in his design?
