Changes Are A Comin’ to Our Sod Roof

If you are a regular visitor to Hershey Children’s Garden, you know that Garden staff members are constantly experimenting with new ideas to enhance the visitor experience. One of the favorite features of the garden, the sod house, is getting particular attention at the moment.

The sod house is a little play house set at the edge of the Children’s Garden prairie. Traditionally, the roof is annually planted with a wildflower sod mat. When I arrived, the flower mats were too expensive, so I went with a drought tolerant turf grass with wild flowers individually planted into the sod. Soon, all that will change.

This June, a team of contractors and garden staff are finishing work on enhancing the plant composition, as well as the structure itself. The entire wood frame has been rebuilt, and a rubber liner has been added along with modular planting trays used in conventional green roofs. The last phase will be seeding a mixture of low-mow grasses and native perennials. Come see the finished product soon!

Posted by Josh Steffen