Thursday, July 24, 2014

Verdant Roof

The green roof is actually looking green!  Thanks to extra rain this month and a bit extra irrigation, the roof is living up to its name.  Nice to see it looking happy.  The roof remodel starts next month!







Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Purple Pleasures

The Berry Prairie continues to bloom this summer, blissfully unaware of the changes about to come.  If it knew, I'm sure it'd be as excited as the rest of us!  We received one bid for the green roof remodel, and we're now talking with that contractor to figure out what we will and won't do in that process.  Once the contract is signed, you will get ALL SORTS of news about it!  But: no putting the cart before the horse.

Anyway, the flowers on the green roof right now are exclusively purple.  And oh so lovely in the morning sunlight.  Here are a few photos to tantalize, dazzle and awe:





In this Smooth Penstemon (Penstemon glaber v. alpine; below),  a pollen wasp sleeps until the sun hits it and warms it up enough to fly.







Written by Brenna Marsicek, UW Biodiversity Institute