Scotts Helps 'Green' The Urban Environment

Always keen to be involved in projects which improve the environment, Scotts has developed a partnership with Blackdown Horticultural Consultants Ltd (BHC), who lead the way in the design, supply, installation and maintenance of lightweight roof planting systems in the UK. Such is the success of these systems that BHC is seeing increasing demand for its innovative vegetation blanket Nature Mat®.

Developed exclusively by company founders John Williams and Alun Rhys Tarr, Nature Mat consists of a geotextile base layer, with a specially formulated substrate in the middle, and a top plant layer of selected species such as Sedums. The mat is prepared outdoors in the spring, and laid out across free-draining fields in Somerset. The substrate layer is a specially prepared mix of Scotts sphagnum peat with locally quarried rock minerals. This provides a nutrient rich growing medium, into which a mix of Sedum seeds and vegetative cuttings are placed.

	The BHC green roof system, including this residential project in Stoke Climsland, Cornwall, uses Scotts sphagnum peat as a growing medium.

“The mat is then covered with a mulch, providing an ideal environment for germination and establishment, explains John Williams. “It’s ready for use the following spring, when it’s cut and rolled up like turf, put on to pallets and transported to its final destination. Nature Mat is mainly used for green roofs in urban environments, where an instant greening effect is required. It can also be used as ground cover on areas that are either difficult to plant, or that require low maintenance.”

The BHC green roof system, which can be seen on buildings across the UK, including a world-renowned research centre near Cambridge, and a new technology park in west Wales, is both aesthetic and functional. A green roof is not only pleasing to the eye, but provides insulation to the building, captures rainwater, reduces noise emissions, improves air quality by the removal of carbon dioxide, and provides a wildlife habitat.

Simon Keeble, from Scotts, commented: “Scotts gives a great deal of support to products and initiatives which benefit the environment and improve habitats for wildlife. This innovative roof planting system from BHC is beneficial to the environment in so many ways, and we are delighted to be working with them.”

John Williams added: “We have worked hard to develop a system that works well in the UK, and grow all the plant material ourselves to ensure high quality. We also source all our products from the UK, and work with companies like Scotts who we know and trust to deliver a high quality, reliable and consistent product every time.”