What's growing on that bus shelter?

A lot of buildings in Pittsburgh have green roofs, a few of them intentionally planted to benefit the ecosystem. You’ve seen the other kind — with moss or trees growing out of the gutters — but an eco-friendly green roof is usually out of sight and well disciplined behind a parapet wall on a tall building.

If you go to Penn Avenue and North Whitfield in East Liberty to wait for the bus, you can see one. It's on the bus shelter.

It is pictured here, along with the plants that are growing on top of it, in a photo taken by Maggie Graham, East Liberty Development Inc.’s communications coordinator.

Loralyn Fabian and Katherine Camp of ELDI came up with the idea. They got a number of partners to collaborate and won a Pittsburgh Foundation/Sprout Fund grant of $20,000 in 2010.

At the time, Loralyn called the concept “putting little hubs of biodiversity” right where people can see what a green roof does, from reducing storm water runoff to attracting butterflies.

Last month, the green roof was installed, with educational signage encouraging you to look up.

On Jan. 26, you can learn how to create one yourself at a free Green Roof Bus Shelter Workshop from 4-5.30p at East Liberty Presbyterian Church, room 234, 116 S. Highland Ave. RSVP to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 412.361.8061.

ELDI and Tsuga Studios are hosts of the workshop.

You can check out a series of photos on ELDI’s Facebook page.