Rare orchids found on our London office roof #garden gain interest from the @BBC. This scarce find shows how the garden provides a haven for wildlife & #biodiversity in a city landscape.
Article by BBC: https://t.co/CawQa6pITt
More on the roof garden: https://t.co/ObwbVr8Fnh pic.twitter.com/IlPnvEeetF
— Nomura (@Nomura) June 15, 2021
The colony found on the London rooftop is 15-plants strong. It’s an exciting addition to the 159 species of flowering plants currently living on the roof.
How the seeds arrived at the rooftop garden are unknown, but it is possible that they were carried by the winds. Another explanation is that the orchid seeds were on the plants used to create the rooftop garden over 10 years ago.
“The plants could have originated on the continent and been brought over the Channel on southerly winds which frequently bring Saharan dust deposits to the capital,” said ecologist Mark Patterson, who runs the rooftop garden. 