BUILDING FOR PLANT CONSERVATION – A CASE STUDY FROM BUCHAREST, ROMANIA

Abstract

In the big and crowded cities of the world, a large number of rooftops have been transformed into living green areas, small or large, extensive, semi-intensive or intensive, with different uses in the lives of citizens. This contribution presents an example of a small, intensive rooftop garden, created on the rooftop terrace of a private house, in the city of Bucharest, with the aim of conserving plants and reconnecting people with nature. The terrace, located at a height of 10 m, on an area of 40 sqm, was built in 2011, using the ZinCo Technology, which ensures high water storage and a variety of substrates and depths. The current floristic composition (2023) includes 55 taxa of vascular plants (51 non-native species and 4 native species), belonging to 31 families of angiosperms and 3 families of gymnosperms: annual plants, geophytes, perennial herbaceous plants, subshrubs, shrubs, and trees. The criteria used in the selection and grouping of plants pertain to ecological preferences, tolerance to stressful environmental factors, plant importance, growth rate, low maintenance, spatial and seasonal diversity. The results provide an overview of the green rooftop system technology, the development of taxa introduced during a decade since the establishment of the garden and highlight the plants and combinations of plants suitable for local conditions.