A concern with this Isle of Wight project is the proximity of the turf to the sea. The client decided that the roof of the house would protect the turf from the worst of the weather and he would see how well it coped before trying it on the front of the house. There are 25 varieties of flowers in the turf as well as 4 varieties of grass. The grasses are mainly fescues and these are reasonably salt tolerant anyway. The number of flowers and the fact that most of them are quite hardy will mean that a number will survive and thrive. By introducing so many varieties some will do well in some conditions/soil types etc and others will do well in different conditions. As well as this the client is going to experiment by adding some local plant seeds to the turf and see if they estabish over the next few years.
Partially completed Wild Flower Turf roof on the Isle of Wight