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  • Buffalo Horticulture. The Landscape by Matthew Dore
  • Services
  • BLOG: Buffalo Landscape & Border Gardening
  • Matthew Dore, Landscape Designer, Buffalo, NY
  • Contact
  • Journal: \\"The Buff Hort Project\\"
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Border Gardening

"Border Gardening" is intended to represent the Buffalo Horticulture ideals as a "Design and Build Landscape Construction and Garden Care Service". It is soft, or hopes to be, and writes with a voice for those in search of value(s) in and from the landscape.

4/15/2014 6 Comments

Green Roofs in Buffalo, NY

Who is it exactly that should build Green Roofs?

Green roofs. Who is the expert you can call in? It is a roof, so you call a roofer? But, its a landscape project? Or, is it 'green infrastructure?" Or, a wildlife habitat?

I don't believe we have arrived yet - in Buffalo, NY - where there is really an isolated field or area of expertise, specializing in the green roof. My approach or belief is that the green roof is necessarily a collaborative project - we may look to the following specialties as needing representation in the process of project development and that there is no "ONE" authority or expert. 

1. Architect/Designer. Someone needs to lead with the vision, ideas, and to facilitate the collaborative process. I would suggest part of the skill and expertise deployed here would be the ability to have conversations at many different levels and to speak a range of technical languages.

2. Engineer. The first thing I need to determine in the assessment of a potential green roof site is "what and how much can be put on a roof." An understanding of how loads are distributed and how a building is structured can tell us what is a safe. It is possible your building can't bear anymore weight.

3. Roofer. Due to the investment of the "green" placed above the roof, we need to be sure the layers beneath the horticultural elements are sealed up good and leak free. Green roofs can double the life of a roof, but to find leaks and make repairs can be more difficult. I turn this part of the project over to someone who has way more experience and knowledge than I.

4. Horticulturist. While I may act as the designer who is pulling the entire project together, my real expertise is in making the plants grow. Cultivating in minimal, lightweight, and artificial growing mediums used on green roofs is about as extreme a condition as you can try to produce a garden in. This is not a task for the roofer as much as roofing is not a task for me.

My concern is that right now those clamoring to construct green roofs are not collaborations of experts but "green enthusiasts." And, while I am a "green enthusiast," what I'm pointing towards is the phenomena which has developed over the past fifteen years of "experts" who come to be because of "Google," as, now, we all can become knowledgeable of any number of things in twenty minutes of research. 

While there are some out there claiming expertise, it needs to be considered what kind of experience this expertise comes from. Buffalo has a lot of skilled people out there looking for the opportunity to produce something special - there are no shortage of them. We just want to use caution that we pull as many of these people together in collaboration when developing sites, structures, roofs, neighborhoods, and landscapes - always with skills, materials, climates, economies, and ways of being unique to Buffalo, NY. There is never a universal way to produce something - and I think with Green Roofs in Buffalo, we are still, together, figuring them out. 
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6 Comments
Linda Galla link
4/16/2014 06:28:12 am

Good Afternoon!
I enjoyed reading your article and found myself agreeing with you on several points! I found your link thru my newsfeed on facebook and just wanted to let you know that you wrote an interesting article. Maybe there could be a connection or some way we could help each other out in this industry? Let us know! Have a great day!
Linda
MOTHER EARTH HYDROPONICS
4251 Transit Rd.,Williamsville, NY 14221
(716) 634-9376
motherearthhydro@gmail.com

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Juliet Hevland
4/17/2014 04:10:25 pm

I really enjoyed this article. I have a building with a flat roof on the west side of Buffalo,that is home to my 57 year old family hardware store. In an area that screams for green space! If there is any interest in doing a green roof in the inner I would be open to discussion. Experiment on my roof start growth in city again!!

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me
5/12/2020 11:33:35 pm

this was useless

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Girl Jobs Colorado link
3/17/2021 11:33:57 pm

Great read thankss

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Michael Dickinson link
11/14/2021 04:59:26 pm

There are now a few more green roofs in Buffalo, you’re far more likely to see solar panels these days. Too bad, because this one demonstrates how beautiful and easy a residential green roof can be.

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Roof Repair link
5/8/2022 02:42:17 pm

Roofer. Due to the investment of the "green" placed above the roof, we need to be sure the layers beneath the horticultural elements are sealed up good and leak free. Thank you for sharing your great post!

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    Matthew Dore

    Landscape designer and Proprietor of Buffalo Horticulture

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