Up on the roof, 'green' garden grows

David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, how does your garden grow?

Let's see. It's up on the rooftop of the ticket office with muly grass, perennial peanut, sunshine mimosa, blanket flower, lanceleaf tickseed and tropical sage.

The drought-tolerant plants are the newest eco-friendly project at the performing arts center and possibly the first "green" designed roof in downtown. These aren't just potted plants on a rooftop.

The vegetation joins the center's outdoor fountain, which bubbles with reclaimed water, and air-conditioning upgrades to boost energy efficiency.

An unexpected afternoon shower sprinkled the garden as workers last week finished putting in the last plants, spread mulch and checked the irrigation system.

"It's our way of trying to participate in the sustainability efforts," said Straz's senior vice president, Lorrin Shepard.

The center's policy is to do as much as possible to meet energy-efficient, environmentally friendly building guidelines set out in a third-party national rating system known as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

"It's very difficult to do with a building as old as this," Shepard said. But the renovation of the ticket office presented an opportunity.

About 1,000 square feet of the office was renovated, and another 1,000 square feet added on. The new ticket office wing is the site of the garden roof.

The plants are growing in 5 inches of soil and other plant nutrients. An irrigation system will keep them refreshed during the dry season. Benefits include better insulation and less electricity use.

The plants also cut carbon emissions and emit oxygen. If more buildings had garden roofs, Shepard said, they would reduce the overall amount of heat in downtown that reflects off so many hard surfaces, such as traditional roofs, sidewalks and roadways.

There also is an anticipation of less storm water runoff and fewer pollutants reaching Tampa Bay after filtering through the vegetation. The cost of the garden roof, about $32,000. is expected to be recouped in energy savings over the coming years, he said.