Further steps to manage our fire risk

"Zone zero" is back in the news here.  California passed its "zone zero" law in 2020 with the intention of creating five feet of "ember-resistant" areas surrounding homes located in very high fire risk areas.   The State's Board of Forestry and Fire Protection was tasked with creating regulations and timelines for implementing the law by January 2023.  That due date came and went as discussions moved to the back burner.  I vaguely recall some general discussion of the topic back then but the wildfires in Southern California in January reignited the sense of urgency to publish the regulations and get moving on implementing them in 2026.  However, according to an article published in the in the Los Angeles Times on November 3rd, the discussion remains heated and the current deadline of December 31, 2025 is likely to be missed once again.  Among other things, critics believe the emphasis on healthy, well-irrigated plants may be overblown and actions to harden homes would be more meaningful.  They point out that there's little scientific research to demonstrate which actions with respect to plants are effective in controlling ignitions of home structures.  In addition, while it could be relatively easy to regulate landscaping around new homes, it could be difficult to impose the same regulations on existing homeowners who could face significant financial burdens to alter their hardscaping and landscapes.

I recently learned that my own house is in a "green" zone due to a reappraisal of fire risk zones in my area.  At present, our property isn't subject to any regulations the State eventually adopts, which I assume includes those related to "zone zero."  So why do I care about the pending regulations?  I care because some homes in my own neighborhood do fall into high risk zones and it's hard to understand how fires affecting homes within a few minutes walking distance wouldn't present a real threat to my own home.  In addition, I've seen what wildfires can do.  My in-laws lost their home of twenty years to a wildfire in 1993.  And I'm nervous every time residents living around us set off illegal fireworks.

According to the LA Times article, even "zone zero" critics agree on certain aspects of the regulations under discussion, including the need to remove wooden structures attached to a house.  We previously removed a wooden arbor on the south side of our house but this week my husband and I agreed to address two other such structures.  The fence bisecting the north side of our garden is the first of these.

I thought my husband was going to contact the contractor we used when we renovated our house in 2019 to seek help or a referral to do the work but, just an hour or so after we spoke, I discovered he's already jumped in and started on the fence!

The fence's gate and its connection to the house is gone but the effort involved reinforced the need for outside help with removing the rest of the fence and the second project

The fence itself is beefier than it may look at first glance.  There are multiple posts backed by wood planks on both sides.

These photos show the new views without the gate.  The one on the left is looking roughly northwest into my cutting garden.  The one on the right shows the east side area looking at the spa with a view of the Port of Los Angeles in the distance.

This is what's left of the gate and the boards that had connected the fence to the house itself

Views of the west and east sides of the fence that remains.  At its end, our fence connects to another wood fence that separates our property from than of our neighbor on the north side,

Blending the cutting garden with the north-side dry garden may be a challenge, albeit not insurmountable.  My most immediate concern is whether the 2 tall Leptospermum 'Pink Pearl' shrubs can remain there.  I love them but they'll look even more awkward with the fence gone.  As it is, they already crowd with the persimmon tree (Diospyros 'Fuyu') on the west side of the fence.

The other area of concern is the arbor attached to the front of the house.

Our contractor argued in favor of taking this arbor down when we renovated the house in 2019 but I objected because I felt it provided a sense of enclosure.  It offers a little shade but no real cover from the elements.

 

My husband sees signs of rot in the wood and, when I looked at the overhead beams I was surprised to see what I believe is lichen growing on them

The wood mulch surrounding the Magnolia tree in the front garden should probably go too, although some critics question the necessity of that.  There was grass there when we moved it but it didn't thrive even with the heavy watering the prior owner gave it and we took it all out.  I've tried a couple of groundcovers there with limited success as competition with the tree's roots is fierce.

Photo of the area in question taken in early October.  Before I take the step of hauling in gravel, maybe I'll try adding something like Carex divulsa (aka woodland sedge) in spots there first.

I'm not entirely happy with the area I cleared at the back of our house outside the living and dining room windows earlier this year; however, I've finished tweaking it for the time being.  As the plants settle in and fill out, I may feel better about it.

I added more succulents; replanted the Helleborus 'Phoebe' that'd been choked out by a massive Arthropodium cirratum; added one of the divisions from that Arthropodoium; and planted a few more burgundy-flowered ivy geraniums (Pelargonium peltatum)

Meanwhile, I continue to be plagued by critters doing their own work in my garden.

While the skunk hasn't been since Halloween, the raccoons are back digging up my beds and stealing persimmon fruit.  My cat alerted me to their return Monday night and I thought I'd chased them away but I was wrong.  The 'Fuyu' persimmons are all but gone but I've been harvesting the prolific 'Hachiya' persimmons in hope of giving them away.  The raccoons decided that dumping the first bucket I'd collected was easier than climbing the tree.

And the gophers have returned to the back garden now that all my old sonic devices are dead.  I've thrown balls of nasty-smelling gopher repellent into the holes but I probably need more of those and possibly a few new sonic devices to send them elsewhere. Where are the coyotes when they could be helpful?!

As may be apparent, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Flip-flop on fire risk zones

I addressed Los Angeles County's adoption of "defensible space clearance" requirements in a post on March 28th.  The requirements were applicable to all homeowners in areas facing significant fire risk.  We received a notice from the Los Angeles Fire Department outlining its guidelines and notifying us of inspections to be conducted by department personnel in or around June.  Among other things, the notice specified the following:

"It is required that all trees and shrubs shall be maintained free of deadwood and litter.  Native and ornamental vegetation known to be flammable, including, but not limited to: Acacia, Cedar, Cypress, Eucalyptus, Juniper, Pine, and Pampas Grass shall be removed within 30 feet of any structure..."

The fire hazard maps available online for our area at that time showed the majority of our peninsula was classified as facing severe fire risk.  Although we weren't specifically required to take any action prior to the inspections, the notice stipulated that homeowners would have just thirty days to resolve any issues that inspectors found and the preliminary guidance we received suggested that time frame could be difficult if extensive changes were required.  We decided to get ahead of the problem by taking a range of actions that made some sense to us.  We ended up removing a large number of shrubs, which I addressed in a post published on May 7th.

In July we received notice of our compliance with current guidelines.  We never saw an inspector nor received any specific input concerning future challenges, specifically the "zone zero" guidelines under development at the California State level.  As it became more and more apparent that "zone zero" guidelines will be implemented by year's end, I began formulating strategies to remove materials that might be considered "flammable" sitting within five feet of our house (i.e., within "zone zero").

One of my most recent actions involved pulling out two woody Coleonema album (breath of heaven) shrubs near the front door.  I subsequently filled in the empty area with a Lomandra, which is generally considered to be fire resistant. 

We dug up a Lomandra 'Platinum Beauty' in one area of the the front garden (shown in the photo on the left) and plunked it into the area formerly occupied by the 2 Coleonema shrubs.  I made an issue of checking its distance from the wall of the house to meet "zone zero" requirements (as shown in the photo on the right).

After I expressed my concerns about the pending "zone zero" guidelines, my husband did an internet search and discovered - drum roll! - that the local authorities responsible for our peninsula are in the process of adopting dramatic changes to our fire hazard severity zones.  These zone classifications are important because they determine where California's defensible space standards apply, including those relating to "zone zero."  I wasn't able to dig up a "before" map but the extent of the changes are remarkable as shown here:

The update was published by our city in mid-June but I don't follow the city's website, which was clearly a mistake in this case
Map Source: rpvca.gov

Moreover, when I checked the rating of our property and the properties within our immediate neighborhood, which consists of fifty-six homes and one large empty lot, I was even more surprised.

That black dot indicates our location within the green (no designated risk) area

So, at least at present, our home is not situated in a fire risk zone at all. (Regardless of this, I've noted that we still have to pay the annual inspection fee assessed by the County as the fee already shows on our property tax bill.)  In total, we and fifteen other neighborhood homeowners, including the owner of the empty lot (the house formerly on it burned down decades ago), are in the clear (green area).  However, twenty-one neighborhood properties are classified as at moderate risk (yellow area), thirteen are classified at high risk (orange area), and seven are classified at very high risk (red area).  As all of these homes are within minutes walking distance from our home, the close proximity to red and orange risk areas still makes me nervous.  How the zones were established isn't outlined in any specific way on the city's site, and our zone wasn't identified in our compliance notice, but I was led to understand that the approach followed the criteria established at the State level.  The factors considered in defining an area's "hazard score" included:

• An area's "fire history"
• "Existing and potential fuel" (vegetation)
• "Flame length" (which according to Google AI refers to wildfire intensity and potential for damage)
• "Blowing embers terrain" (which refers to how wind-blown embers spread during a wildfire) and
• "Typical fire weather"

Officially at least, it appears that I no longer have to worry about the following areas of my garden:

I'm under no obligation to remove the lovely Camellia 'Taylor's Perfection' or Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku' I planted next to the garage soon after we moved in over 14 years ago

I needn't worry that my beloved ever-blooming Grevillea 'Superb' is partially intruding in the 5-foot space between it and the house, despite a serious pruning this spring 

No immediate action is required with respect to the Coleonema and Pittosporum shrubs that make up the hedge here on the north end of the house

or the Camellia sasanqua and Pittosporum shrubs around the corner that we also inherited with the garden

The fence issue is also tabled for now.  We looked at a metal fence options and calculated that the cost, including installation, ran in around $10K.

Moving on to other less ambiguous matters, we did receive "significant" rain from the storm that passed through Southern California earlier this week.  It's been called a "Goldilocks" atmospheric river event as it put a temporary stay on the start of our fire season while avoiding mudslides in the areas affected by the fires last January.  Our net rain tally was 0.74/inch.  My 50- and 160-gallon collection tanks are full.  The 265-gallon tank didn't accumulate much.  After-the-fact, we discovered that one of the filters was blocked by an inch of mud, preventing rainwater from flowing into the tank during the storm.  That, and the fact that tank collects rain off the smallest roof surface (i.e., only the back half of the garage roof), accounted for the fact the tank was nearly dry.  The tank's placement can't be helped as it's too ugly to set up in front of the house.

This is the 265-gallon tank, which is seated flush with the back of the garage wall.  The clogged filter is shown in a closeup photo on the right.  It attached directly to the roof gutter.  There's a second filter the water passes through below it at the top of the tank itself.

I filled these plastic trugs with water flowing down the rainchain that I couldn't otherwise capture.  The first round I collected was used to water plants under the roof's overhang area and container plants sitting next to the house.  I dumped the water I collected after that into the 265-gallon tank once the clogged filter issue was resolved.  It was a pittance but at least it's a start.

The best news is that the garden is currently fully saturated.  I should be able to leave our irrigation system off for more than a week without touching any of the collected rainwater.  The only negative is that my work in the cutting garden remains on hold until the soil in the raised planters dries out and can be worked again.

All but one of the dahlia plants and tubers in the raised beds are gone.  I removed all 'Lady Darlene's' damaged foliage but she still has a few fat buds so I've given her another brief reprieve.  There are also 3 large foxgloves left in the middle planter I haven't made a decision about - they never bloomed but might do so in the coming cool season; however, they also may prevent me from getting any remaining tentacles of the dahlia tubers out to avoid a replay of the mosaic virus. 

Meeko and I may be getting some time off this weekend.

As soon as our daytime temperatures dropped into the 60sF, I turned on the heating pad below Meeko's pink afghan and she's been calmer ever since

 

Enjoy a great weekend and thumbs up if you're joining a "No Kings" march on Saturday!

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Empty Spaces

In late March, I published a post discussing the "defensible space clearance" ordinance adopted by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, intended to reduce structural losses in the event of wildfires in high-risk areas like mine.  I elected to get ahead of the game by removing selected plants my husband and I had concerns with.  Many people have commented that I was jumping the gun as the Fire Department's inspections won't be conducted until June or thereabout; however, my in-laws lost their home to a major wildfire in late 1993 and we know the pain associated with an event like that so our action was driven as much by that experience as by the new ordinance.  The crew arrived on Monday to act on my list.  Many of the plants we had removed were small but others were large enough to leave big empty spaces.

The area that had the biggest impact on the garden (and me) is one that sits directly outside my office window.

The area shown here was occupied by a massive Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' and a tree-sized Leucadendron 'Pisa'.  Acacias in general are considered flammable, although it may be arguable that Acacia trees present a higher risk than shrubs but this one was just a few feet from the house.  'Pisa', a Leucadendron hybrid, has a parent that's considered particularly flammable.    I expect to plant more succulents and smaller shrubs like Osteospermums here.

These are distance views of the affected area taken after (left) and before (right) the removal of the Acacia and the Leucadendron.  You'll note that the view of most of the back patio was blocked by the 2 shrubs in the "before" shot.

This is a reminder of what Leucadendron 'Pisa' looked like in full "bloom" last year

Clearance of another area including Acacia 'Cousin Itt', this one in the front garden, left a similarly sad empty space.

The area on the left is the "after" shot.  The photo on the right shows what it looked like with one large Acacia 'Cousin Itt' and a Salvia lanceolata that grew up through it.  I discovered the area underneath was riddled with the fibrous roots and tubers of asparagus fern.  I've already put 2 hours into clearing them and probably have another 2 hours of work to go.  I'm thinking of adding another Abelia 'Kaleidoscope' and more Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' to the empty space to mirror the other side of the bed once it's ready for replanting.

Less noticeable to anyone unfamiliar with my garden is the removal of the Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) in front of the house on the the north side.

The fact that there was a tree there is nearly undetectable.  The work crew dug the stump out by hand in this case, rather than using a mechanical stump remover.

For the record, here's the tree in its glory days.  While close to the house, this tree was removed because it'd suddenly died.

I had all four of the large red powder puff shrubs (Calliandra haematocephala) removed, not because they're considered particularly flammable but because they were installed against the house and garage as foundation plants.  They were sheared every other month to keep them tidy and out of pathways, causing the accumulation of large volumes of dry foliage to build up within their canopies.  It was that dry foliage that made them flammable.  The constant shearing also prevented them from blooming abundantly, as they would were they allowed to grow naturally.

These are after and before shots of the area occupied by the Calliandra at the back of the house.  It hid the TV in the living room from view outside.  All I can do now is pull the shade.  I may plants succulents there.

These are after and before shots of the area occupied by 2 Calliandras on either side of a Pittosporum tobira at the front of the house.  The Pittosporum was originally on the list for removal but I took it off at the last minute.  I still need to prune the back side of all my Pittosporums to create more space between them and the house.

These are the after and before shots of the 4th Calliandra in front of the garage.  I'm planning to replant this area with assorted Agaves and other succulents.

Jacaranda foliage can be highly flammable when the plant enters its dormant phase, holding onto its dead foliage until spring arrives and the plant at last produces a flush of new foliage.  My Jacaranda 'Blue Bonsai' was planted several years ago and has never produced more than a few flowers.

The Jacaranda has a long ugly period each year as shown on the right.  It wasn't worth holding onto, especially as it was also only feet from the house.

I had six Nandina domestica (aka heavenly bamboo) in the front garden, all of which were here when we moved in.  These plants can be flammable when the culms die back.  Only one of those in my garden still looked good but it contained a lot of those dry culms and stood directly against the house next to our gas outlet.

These are after and before shots of the area occupied by the largest Nandina.  I'd like to find something to safely hide the pipes here.  Maybe a few more Agapanthus would do the trick.

We also decided to take out the two vines growing up a wood arbor adjacent to our house's roof overhang, a Pandorea jasminoides and a Trachelospermum jasminoides (aka star jasmine).  Both were decades old and very woody.

These are after and before shots.  My husband subsequently cut down the upper part of the arbor but the retention of the fence itself is under discussion.  The wood fence's direct connection to the house is ill-advised according to recommendations we've read.  However, I like the visual break between my cutting garden and the dry garden on the other side.  We're considering a fence constructed using other materials.

The remaining plants we had removed were all rosemary shrubs (Salvia rosmarinus).  I think there were ten or more in total but some had merged into one another over the years, making it hard to get an exact count.  I installed all of them and the failure to properly maintain many of them was entirely my fault.  I didn't realize how big these plants can get.  Lovely as they are in scent and flower, the resin in their foliage makes rosemary highly flammable.

These are the after and before shots of the area in my north-side garden previously occupied by 3 rosemary shrubs.  I'm thinking of adding another Phormium and more succulents here.

Top row: After and before shots of a rosemary surrounded by ivy in an area at the top of our concrete stairway
Next row: After and before shots of the rosemary shrubs extending down the back slope
Not shown: A mid-sized variegated rosemary in my back border, also removed

I missed two plants during Monday's exercise and the arborist didn't catch my omission when he gave instructions to his lead guy.  The two plants are native grasses, Festuca californica, which is highly flammable.  They're relatively small but not something I can easily dig out myself.  My husband's going to give them a try but, if he has difficulty with them, I'll add them to the pruning work list for the tree crew this coming fall.  As it is, the plants are largely hidden behind a massive Salvia canariensis so they contribute little to the garden's overall appearance..

I've already put a few hours into cleaning up some of the affected areas, I've got hours yet to put into the effort before any of them are ready for planting.  I also need to look into what I've got on hand that might be suitable to fill some of the empty spaces before I go shopping for additional plants.  My fingers are crossed that the Fire Department doesn't tag additional plants that require removal when their inspection is conducted.  As it is, I've identified another plant, Cistus ladanifer 'Blanche', that should probably be removed as I learned that, among all the members of the genus, that one is particularly flammable due to high levels of resin in its foliage.  And then there's the decision about the fence dividing my cutting garden from my north-side dry garden that needs to be addressed in one manner or another.

The State of California is also in the process of developing requirements related to a "Zone Zero" executive order signed by Governor Newsom earlier this year.  It mandates the creation of an "ember-resistant" area within five feet of structures in the highest risk areas.  The new regulations will apply to all new structures once they're enacted but are expected to roll out over a period of the next three years for existing structures.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Drought tolerance and fire resistance don't go hand-in-hand

Since assuming stewardship of my garden over fourteen years ago, I've focused on selecting plants for drought tolerance.  In the early years, that effort involved eliminating water hogs like the lawns that originally blanketed more than half the garden, filling the empty space with far less thirsty plants and beds divided by flagstone paths.  Unfortunately, a plant's drought tolerance signifies nothing about its fire resistance.  The swarm of fires that tore through Southern California in January, decimating the communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena among others, shone a flood light on the dangers posed by wildfires, which have grown both more frequent and more intense over the years as a result of climate change.  In mid-February, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance calling for the creation of "defensible space clearance" surrounding homes in areas facing significant fire risk.  Cal Fire, formally known as the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in turn issued new fire hazard maps, extending the vulnerable areas in Southern California by 3.5 million acres.  The Cal Fire map isn't helpful to us because most of our peninsula is under "local authority" jurisdiction and therefore not reflected in their map but my city's own map shows that our entire city is designated at severe risk.  I should note that our peninsula hasn't experienced fires with the scope or destructive power we witnessed in January.  However, my in-laws lost their home in Malibu to a massive wildfire in 1993 so my husband and I sensitive to the impact these events can have.

The Los Angeles Fire Department will be conducting inspections, probably in June in our coastal area.  These have been conducted annually in the past and we've never received a warning of any kind but, given the notice we received several weeks ago citing the new ordinance, there's reason to believe that this and future inspections will be more rigorous.  Among other things, the notice of homeowner responsibility includes the following:

"It is required that all trees and shrubs shall be maintained free of deadwood and litter.  Native and ornamental vegetation known to be flammable, including, but not limited to: Acacia, Cedar, Cypress, Eucalyptus, Juniper, Pine, and Pampas Grass shall be removed within 30 feet of any structure..."

Failures to comply with inspection findings within thirty days are subject to fines (on top of an annual inspection fee).  I sought to get ahead of the game by conducting my own research.  As there's no master index of "flammable" plants, making those determinations isn't easy!  I pulled a number of lists off the internet.  The most useful was one published by Marin County, which provides a list of fire-prone plants as well as those that are fire resistant.  (You can find a copy here.)  Most other lists were less comprehensive and many contradict one another.  I also discovered that there are few sources that provide ratings of the many plants native to South Africa and Australia I've used in my garden.  I relied a lot on AI-generated summaries, although those can provide fuzzy guidance.  I met with my arborist on Monday to review my working list and solicit his input.  At present, I'm planning to remove roughly twenty-five plants in advance of the Fire Department's inspection.

The reference to Acacias in the Fire Department's notice hit me like a sucker punch.  I've no Acacia trees but I have quite a few 'Cousin Itt' Acacia cognata shrubs.  I've come to terms with removing those closest to the house.

These are 2 views of a single fluffy Acacia 'Cousin Itt' at the base of tree-sized Leucadendron 'Pisa'. They sit directly outside my home office.  'Pisa' is a hybrid Leucadendron.  While some Leucadendrons are said to be fire resistant, when I looked into 'Pisa's' parentage I learned its parent is L. floridum, which was pronounced highly flammable.  Noting that it hangs on to its vast number of dry cones, it's on the list to go with the Acacia.  I will mourn the loss of both.

The Acacia 'Cousin Itt' shown here sits outside our living room and catio.  The Salvia lanceolata growing up through its middle, although not flammable, will also go.  My purpose with the latter removal is to facilitate my replanting of the empty area.

I'm not removing the two masses of these plants further from the house, although I recognize that I could be ordered to do so following the inspection.  As I understand it, the principal problem with this Acacia is the deadwood they develop below that fluffy foliage and the debris they drop.  I've made it a practice to cut back the deadwood and regularly rake the debris in the hope that may be sufficient.

These are 2 views of the 3 'Cousin Itt' Acacias massed aeound the base of a peppermint willow (Agonis flexuosa) just inside the Xylosma congestum hedge that encircles the back border of the garden.  The Xylosma itself is considered fire resistant.

2 more 'Cousin Itt' Acacias sit beneath a strawberry tree (Arbutus 'Marina') in the front garden.  The photo on the right shows the flowers the plant produces.  The shady area behind the Acacias slopes down in the direction of another section of Xylosma hedge,

My Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) isn't reputed to be highly flammable but of late it shows clear signs of impending death.  The arborist was also concerned and noted signs of what might be insect borers.  I elected to remove it.

While the tree normally drops brown folded paper-like leaves in summer's heat, I don't recall a massive loss of leaves during our cool season, especially when the tree is still flowering.  It looks awful and the leaves look like dry debris to me, much of which gets caught inside the Pittosporum and breath of heaven (Coleonema album) shrubs below.

The red powder puff shrub (Calliandra haematocephala) isn't generally considered highly flammable, although its flowers can be.  However, the four shrubs I inherited as foundation plants next to the garage and house have been treated as hedges, regularly sheared to keep them neat and out of pathways.  That's not how these plants were intended to grow.  Given sun and sufficient space, the branches grow outward in a vine-like manner and bloom abundantly.  Placed against walls under rooftop overhangs and sheared almost monthly, they flower little and collect endless amounts of dry litter.  I've elected to remove all four of them.

There are 2 Calliandras planted against the front of the house with a single Pittosporum tobira planted between them.  Although the latter is fire resistant, this is another case in which I've elected to remove it along with the 2 Calliandras in the hope of creating a more cohesive landscape in this area.  Tentatively, I'm thinking of replacing all 3 shrubs with succulents.

I'm particularly sad to remove this Calliandra because it's the most reliable bloomer in the bunch.  It's a narrow bed, probably destined to be filled with succulents.

The only negative associated with removing this Calliandra shrub at the back of the house is that it hides the wiring at the back of the television sitting next to the window.  We can pull one shade down but I'm hopeful we can find a more attractive solution at some point.

The dried leaves and fallen litter of Jacarandas is considered highly flammable.  While that can probably be managed, the dwarf Jacaranda 'Bonsai Blue' I planted approximately six feet from the house in 2016 hasn't contributed enough to the garden to be worth the trouble.  It's on the removal list.

I love the purple-blue blooms of Jacarandas in flower but it's homely in the spring when its foliage turns a sick brownish color  Also, in 8 years, it's only produced a handful of blooms just once.

My husband expressed concern about the two woody vines growing up an arbor directly adjacent to the roof area of our bedroom.  Neither bower vine (Pandorea jasminoides) nor star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) are normally considered flammable but the combination of the mass of woody stems they've developed and the dry litter the star jasmine drops on the roof, combined with the arbor's close contact with the roof, led us to put the vines on the list for removal.

My husband plans to remove the arbor itself once the plants are gone

Common rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus, formerly classified as Rosmarinus officianalis) is on most, but not all, lists of flammable plants I reviewed.  One nursery site claimed that the prostrate form is a fire resistant groundcover.  I'm still taking all mine out - and there are a lot of them.

There are 4 large rosemary shrubs in the north-side garden.  (There's also a 'Gold Dust' rosemary shrub in one of the back garden's bed on the chopping block.)

There are many more idling along the path that leads down the back slope.  Those in the photo on the right are a prostrate form that I've found nearly impossible to keep within bounds.

Other plants slated for removal include California sagebrush (Artemisia californica) and heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica).

The Artemisia (left) is a California native that contains an oil that reportedly makes it highly combustible.  Nandina's dead culms and foliage can make it flammable and my inherited plants haven't been well maintained.

I can't claim to have assessed all the other plants in my garden.  I can't count the number of genera I have, much less the number of individual species.  Also, as previously said, there isn't a lot of data on the non-native plants I have either.  The contradictory assessments in many cases also made me crazy.  Ultimately, properly maintaining my plants, particularly those that produce cones, like Leucadendrons, is probably key to increasing the fire resistance of my garden.  Overall, in reviewing the lists that contained both fire resistant and flammable plants, I was gratified to find far more of my plants were on the first list than the second.

I haven't yet to got a solid date for removal of the plants I've referenced in this post but I've signed off on the estimate proposal.  In the interest of minimizing collateral damage to my springtime garden, I've requested a date in late April or early May.  You can expect to see more succulents when I replant but I don't have any definitive plans at the moment.  I'll probably observe a mourning period.  And then there's always a possibility that additional removals will be required.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party