GreenSky | Boningale Nurseries

Plants for greener roofs and cities.

What we do

Green Roofs

Pioneering products and research for living roofs.

Floratopia

Stunning, low maintenance environmental planting.

Rain gardens

Planting for sustainable urban drainage systems.

Pioneering the living roof movement

Boningale GreenSky has grown from a green roof knowledge transfer partnership with the University of Sheffield which developed a new way of growing plants for roofs. We have been closely involved in the development of green roof planting guidelines with GRO as the industry develops.

Green roofing looks at the environmental performance and survival qualities of plants individually and as communities. Many of these qualities are overlooked by purely aesthetic traditional planting, but are very necessary to enable our cities to adapt to climate change. There are many circumstances where resilient planting designs with high aesthetic appeal and environmental performance are needed – which led us to create Floratopia. We provide CPDs and design guides and tools to help designers get the best from their planting schemes.

Combining the expertise of the University of Sheffield and Boningale Nurseries

Our Green roof Knowledge Transfer Partnership and substrate and Floratopia PhDs have informed our product ranges and planting advice to help our customers create the best possible planting schemes for the next century.

Green roof tips

Getting the right combination of plants and substrates is crucial to creating a successful living roof.

Diverse range

Use a wide variety of species to improve biodiversity value, aesthetic effect and overall performance of your roof.

Grow to order

For large projects, or particular species requirements consider our advance contract grow option.

Planting guide resource

Skyplug specification

Skyplugs

Our peat-free plugs are specially grown to survive the harsh conditions in a rooftop substrate.

Follow the GRO Code

Green roof code of best practice

How we work

What to expect when you work with Green Sky.

1

Home Grown Plugs

We have worked on our formula for growing our ‘Skyplugs’ with the University of Sheffield in response to industry demand for plants that are fit for purpose and ready to survive in the harsh rooftop environment. We are regularly updating our practices and formulae to ensure the best environmental performance.

2

Bespoke contract growing

Rooftop spaces can be challenging particularly when they are highly visible – we can grow plants to contract when necessary to help fulfil particular requirements.

3

Setting the standard

We have been closely involved in the development of industry standards and guidelines through our work with the Green Roof Organisation to ensure clients can have confidence in every aspect of their green roof project.

4

Connection to our network

Great plants alone are not enough to make a green roof work – many of the other elements from waterproofing to substrates may be unfamiliar to landscape professionals. We are closely linked with waterproofing, drainage and substrate experts should you need advice on the full green roof build-up.

5

Clear expectations

Plants look different depending on the time of year and weather, and can behave differently in a rooftop environment. Planting on a roof often involves creating a resilient community more than a design scheme. We will do our best to guide you through your rooftop adventures.

Research

Floratopia research

Our PhD, with Michael Livingstone and Professor James Hitchmough at the University of Sheffield Department of Landscape, has developed a new ultra-low maintenance planting technique to bring brilliant aesthetics and environmental benefits to open spaces.

By studying the physiology of stress tolerant plant communities from around the world, we have selected a high-performance range of species that will thrive and develop in a deep gravel substrate to minimise weed invasion.

Plant range

Following our 3-year knowledge transfer project with the University of Sheffield Green Roof Centre, we have had a variety of demonstration and test rigs on our site to test the performance of green roof plants including alpines, wildflowers, herbs, perennials and bulbs.

Substrate research

In order to fully understand how to grow plants for green roofs and achieve overall best performance we had to understand the substrates into which they are planted.

On extensive roofs these are over 80% aggregate which is very different from normal topsoils.

Dr Tom Young’s PhD helped us determine the performance implications for our plants and the whole green roof system.

Full PHD paper can be found here: Importance of different components of green roof substrate on plant growth and physiological performance