Natives, Fire, and Drought
| Bare ground is the worst fire hazard. Where there is no vegetation to stop wind-blown embers, they pile up against the first vertical space they find, usually a home. While keeping the area right around your house clear of plants that can send fire up under your eaves is as important as removing dead brush and non-native grasses, proper landscaping can help retard fire. It also may seem correct that in a drought you should get rid of plants. However, stripping the land of vegetation helps speed up desertification and increases drought. Trees and plants hold rainwater in the ground, sinking it to recharge the aquifer. Leaf litter and the shade from plants protect soil from baking and eroding. Every major restoration project on the planet uses water harvesting techniques to sink water into the soil and revegetate slopes with plants native to that area. Look up the Loess Plateau in China, the Al Baydha project in the Saudi desert, or the Greening the Desert Project in Jordan, to name three of many. By covering your property with the proper native plants you will be cooling the earth, retarding fire, helping increase habitat for wildlife, harvesting rainwater, and creating a beautiful landscape. Which natives are the right ones? Those with low flammability should go within the first 100 feet of your house. Use the past articles posted in this newsletter for plant suggestions, and use Calscape to search for plants that will survive in your microclimate. Asking a specialist in native plants about whether a species would work in your yard will save you a lot of money and grief over a dying plant. Flood the planting hole before and after planting, do not use amendments, and please don’t use drip irrigation. Keeping the root ball moist on most natives will kill them. Instead, soak the plant infrequently while it is young, and then err on the side of dryness as it becomes mature. Keeping an overhead watering system to hydrate your mature natives monthly during the hot months will go a long way to making your landscape fire-resistant while using a fraction of the irrigation water non-native landscapes use. Article Written by Diane and Miranda Kennedy. They operate Finch Frolic Garden Permaculture, learn more at www.vegetariat.com or on Facebook. A branch of the Center for Conservation and Education Strategies. “Always be a little kinder than necessary.” -James M. Barrie |