Best plans to thwart fire

Get Fire Ready!

Wildfires are devastating forces that can sweep through your property and destroy everything in its path. Prepare for the upcoming fire season by utilizing firewise design and maintaining your property with these tips and guidelines.

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Zones

The first thirty feet around your home is very important in thwarting the worst effects of a wildfire. The first 5 feet or so from your home should be planted sparingly--no overhanging trees, chaparral shrubs, or flammable decking, fencing, etc. Remember that trees should be 10 feet away from your chimney.

Extend hardscape made of nonflammable materials like concrete, stone, and composite materials for the first thirty feet around your house for maximum fire safety. Use fire-resistant plants (see below) that are well-watered and pruned regularly in this zone as well. Lawns are OK for this zone, just make sure they are well-watered and mowed regularly.

The next zone is 30 to 100 feet away from your home is the green zone, with low growing shrubs (regularly watered and pruned), trees, and hedges. Plant trees far apart, so that a fire can't jump from one tree to the next easily, and refrain from planting shrubs and vines beneath them. Stagger your screening hedges; they act as a flame highway if planted in a straight line. Remember spacing is crucial, as well as cleaning up any dry debris from the plants.

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Fire Resistant Plants

These plants can slow a fire down, but be sure to water and prune them!

Agave

These structurally striking, water filled plants are native to the most wildfire prone parts of the country, the West and Southwest. There are so many Agave species to choose from, each one remarkably beautiful. 

Plant them in groups, or as a single specimen. They are also drought tolerant and look great with other succulents.

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Pinemat Manzanita

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi is a great ground cover with winter interest (red-tinged leaves) and delicate pink blossoms in the spring and summer.

Plant in sun to light shade. Pinemat Manzanita is a good slope stabilizer, and its leaves make an excellent tea. Zones A1-A3, 1-9, 14-24

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Succulents
These water filled beauties with their thick and fleshy leaves are difficult to ignite, and come in so many shapes, colors and sizes. We suggest planting them in inflammable containers near the house or up against your hardscape. They make exquisite additions to any garden. 

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Monkey Flower

Mimulus sp. are charming, versatile, and heat adapted perennials native to the West. There is a recently discovered native Monkey flower to the Santa Barbara region, called the Vandenburg Monkey flower. 

Blooms are usually orange, but also come in yellow, red, or bi-colored. They are easy to grow in Southern California and bloom for most of the year and attract hummingbirds and Checkerspot butterflies.

Monkey flower is also known to thrive in any kind of soil, so give it a try! Zones vary, take a look in Sunset Gardening book for reference.

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Creeping Mahonia

Mahohia repens can be grown in zones 2b-9 and 14-24, and provides yellow spring flowers, blue berries in the summer and bronze leaves in the fall. This evergreen ground cover likes the sun or part shade.

It is a great perennial under oaks and can tolerate low water conditions and is tolerate of frost, heat and is deer-resistant. A tough and versatile plant!

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French Lavender


Surprised? It would seem that the oils contained in this fragrant shrub would go up in a second, but if watered regularly, this perennial is slow to catch fire.

Plus, this plant is beautiful, drought tolerant and smells great. They are easy to grow in full sun and make excellent dried flowers. This plant also offers texture and a blue-grey color for your garden. Zones 8, 9, 12-24.

More Tips

• Use boulders, stone walls, stone gabions, and brick walls to stop the flames.
  
• Don't use dry organic mulch to cover your garden beds, instead use decomposed granite or gravel to fill spaces and keep the soil moist.
• Get a safety assessment from your local fire department; they can tell how to better prepare your home against a fire.
• Clean your property, don't let rubbish piles or junk lie around.
• Tree spacing should be a minimum of ten feet apart, and shrubs a minimum of four.

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