A hens and chicks evergreen succulent plant.
Fire-Safe Not Sorry Now is the time to fire-ready your garden and home, because wildfire season is upon us. By Casey Gillespie
70 july/august 2021 marin living.
“IF YOU LIVE IN THE TAHOE AREA, you need to adapt to snow. If you live in Marin County, you need to learn to adapt to wildfire,” says Rich Shortall, FIRESafe Marin’s executive coordinator. Marin is facing a long, hard drought season, paired with the wildfire risk; preparedness is the name of the game. Back in May, the Marin County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to declare a drought emergency for the county. The board’s supervisor, Dennis Rodoni, voiced his concerns over what experts are calling the worst drought conditions in more than 140 years. “Much of Marin is at risk for wildfire due to the accumulation of fuels over many years. As we all know, we are in the midst of a severe drought. Vegetation is very dry, making it more susceptible to wildfire,” says Shortall. But there are measures everyone can take, and we spoke to some local experts about how to make your garden and home more fire-safe. “The water restrictions being introduced by local water districts are somewhat at odds with the need for fire prevention. If you have plants that cannot withstand the reduced watering that will be required, find other ways to water them — such as using buckets of shower water — but do not let them die off,” says Warren Simmonds of Novato-based landscape architecture firm Simmonds & Associates (www. simmonds-associates.com). If they do die, Simmonds recommends removing them immediately and waiting until fall planting season to re-plant them. “And consider replacing them with succulents such as aloes, agaves, or smaller ground-cover succulents like sedums or senecio,” he says. FIRESafe Marin advises using “plants that are low-growing, open-structured and less resinous” and reminds gardeners that plants that are green in color and lush offer more protection than others. The idea is that these plants hold more mositure and are less flammable. The organization also advocates choosing natives and pollinator-friendly plants where appropriate. But Simmonds is quick to add, “Some drought-resistant plants, such as the native manzanitas, California bay trees or rosemary, contain oils that are highly flammable.” (Visit www.firesafemarin.org/plants/fire-smart for a complete list of fire-safe plants.) Michael O’Connell of Petaluma-based O’Connell Landscape (www.oclandscape.
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new digs.
