Firewise Landscaping Tips

These are additional firewise landscaping tips from Debra Lee Baldwin's website:

Remove flammable vegetation and debris. Reduce potential kindling by getting rid of weeds, dead or dying plants, and anything dry and twiggy.

Avoid planting trees and shrubs that drop quantities of leaves, contain volatile oils or resins, and/or copiously shed bark. Notoriously flammable (and unfortunately quite common) trees include blue gum, eucalyptus, acacias, junipers and pines.

Be aware that some California native plants are pyrophytic. Literally "fire loving," these highly flammable plants depend on seasonal wildfires for regeneration or seed germination. Common ones include greasewood (chamise), sumac (sugar bush), creosote bush and California sagebrush. (Note: Many California natives, including manzanita, coffeeberry, ceanothus and oaks, are not pyrophytic and actually are slow to burn.)

Make sure trees and shrubs within 100 feet of your home are well trimmed and full of moisture. If your house is on a hillside, the recommended distance is 200 feet.

The ideal firewise landscape consists of low-growing shrubs, ground covers and fleshy succulents. To help retain soil moisture and minimize erosion and weeds, cover bare ground with redwood mulch or gravel. Keep plants well watered, especially during fall's desiccating Santa Ana winds. Avoid a fire ladder: fuel-rich plantings that enable fire to climb up to your home.

Surround your house with a 30-foot fire break. In addition to plants that have a high moisture content, include one or more of these landscape enhancements: hardscape, a rock garden, a dry streambed and/or a swimming pool. All make excellent fire breaks.

For more information, plus a list of low-fuel, firewise plants, download the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's publication, "Fire Safe Landscaping.

Note: Unfortunately, some CA fire districts strongly---and mistakenly---recommend growing native plants to the exclusion of all others. Natives do regenerate beautifully after a wildfire but are no help slowing one down, in fact, many natives---such as creosote plant---are highly combustible. Another misconception is that it is more "green" to plant natives exclusively. This is based on the assumption that if a plant is not native, it must be invasive. Except for Carpobrotus edulis (an ice plant known as pickleweed or Hottentot fig, common to coastal areas), succulents are not invasive, and therefore pose no threat to the local ecology.