A new federal endorsement of urban farming?

See today's story in the New York Times regarding plans to take a federal building in Portland green. We're not just talking solar panels and LED lighting. We're talking a garden on the side of the building! Here's an excerpt:

The federal government plans to plant its own bold garden directly above a downtown plaza. As part of a $133 million renovation, the General Services Administration is planning to cultivate “vegetated fins” that will grow more than 200 feet high on the western facade of the main federal building here, a vertical garden that changes with the seasons and nurtures plants that yield energy savings.

“They will bloom in the spring and summer when you want the shade, and then they will go away in the winter when you want to let the light in,” said Bob Peck, commissioner of public buildings for the G.S.A. “Don’t ask me how you get them irrigated.”

Not surprisingly, some U.S. Senators think this is another example of wasteful, government excess, and they have placed it second on a list of the worst stimulus-funded projects.