My Binstore Green Roof: 3 yrs on

I have really enjoyed experimenting with this tiny garden. Many of the original plants are still flourishing and there have also been some new introductions

These photographs were taken in June. The Sedums and Thymes have really filled out to carpet the roof with a variety of leaf colours and textures.

Between the carpeting plants there are a variety of more upright plants producing flowers which bob above the leaves.

There is a predominance of white flowers here but later there is more pink with the Thymes and Sedum. The original Dianthus' did not flower well in the second year and started to die off so I removed them. I have missed their strong colour and long flowering time though and have decided that they would be worth reintroducing annually.

The Sisyrinchium and the Erygeron still performing well.

Slightly later in the year the Thyme is beginning to flower and the Sedum has sent up tiny white blooms. I love the way that both these plants are creeping down the front of the store.

The Erygeron has been a stalwart plant, flowering continuously from spring until autumn. I have had to remove a lot of tiny seedlings to prevent it taking over. It has had a tendency to crisp up during some of the really hot periods that we have experienced over the last few years but either recovers once the weather cools down or new seedlings grow to take over.

All the original Sedums have survived the course. I love the way that raindrops hang to the leaves.

The flower of Saxifraga paniculata, one of the new introductions. I have also added some Sempervivum which have stood their own during this unusually hot and dry summer.

I wanted this roof to survive without watering but have found that to keep some of the more delicate plants I have to water occasionally. This year has been really unusual and have had to water much more. The most reliably robust plants have been all the Sedums, which cope by storing moisture in their succulant leaves, the Erygeron, ultimately by its prolific self seeding and the Euphorbia myrsinites.

My next plan is to introduce some dwarf bulbs, perhaps some Species Tulips and Crocus.