When fires ripped through Los Angeles in January, killing at least 29 people and destroying more than 12,000 homes, some trees remained relatively unscathed in the affected areas. Others, like ornamental palm trees, quickly went up in flames. Fire has its own ecology, its own predilections for what it devours and what it spares.
Years ago, when I had a brief sideline as a landscape designer, I created a garden in the fire-prone hills of Santa Barbara, California, that for this reason leaned heavily on succulents. Like their name implies, these plants’ leaves are juicy and full of water, making them typically fire-resistant and less likely to serve as a wick that conveys fire through a landscape. As a design element, I added pops of red and orange throughout the garden, which I included as a plea for mercy to the gods of fire, a way of acknowledging its ferocious power.
Fanciful gestures aside, there are a host of concrete ways to garden that can make a property more fire-resilient and fire-resistant, from plant choices and placement to best options for decking and fences. However, it’s never a sure bet that fire-wise landscaping can protect a property—especially with the sort of intense, climate-change fueled conflagrations that are becoming increasingly common. “There are no guarantees, but there are things you can do that will improve the odds,” Los Angeles-based landscape designer Judy Kameon of Elysian Landscapes tells Gardenista. She says that designing gardens that are fire-resilient is top of mind right now at her firm, noting, “I don’t think I know of any person in L.A. that isn’t touched by this.”
Below, Kameon and other designers and architects offer their best tips for a fire-smart landscape.
Create buffer zones.
Above: A fire-resistant, planting-free apron around the home—like this one in Shelter Island made up of decomposed granite and concrete pavers—can deter fire from spreading to your structure. Photograph by Matthew Williams Gardenista, from Low-Cost Luxury: 9 Ways to Use Decomposed Granite in a Landscape.
The most important concept when it comes to fire-resilient gardening is defensible space. It means creating buffer zones around a house that work in concert to keep fire from spreading. And by far the most critical zone is the five feet wide area that extends out from the perimeter of a house, says Erik Blank, horticultural educator at the San Fernando Valley’s Theodore Payne Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes the ecological benefits and the beauty of California native plants. (The foundation offers a series of videos on its YouTube channel on landscaping for wildfire defense.)
What’s the safest landscaping approach in that five feet zone? Don’t plant it at all. “There are many examples where we have hardscape [such as cement or flagstone] up against the building,” says Kameon of her work to date. However, if that’s too spare looking for your tastes, and you absolutely want greenery in that area, choose moisture-rich plants, like, yes, succulents. And use them sparingly.
Avoid fuel ladders.
Above: Wooden fences are a no-no in areas with high risk for wildfires. Landscape architect Christine Ten Eyck opted for a Cor-ten steel version. Photograph by Matthew Williams Gardenista, from 10 Genius Garden Hacks with Rusted Metal.
From that initial buffer zone, continue to create zones outward with careful attention to avoiding what are called fuel ladders where “the smaller plant can ignite the medium plant which can ignite the larger plant,” explains Kameon. Hedges often act as fuel ladders; when planted in proximity to a structure, they can literally deliver fire right up to a house. Avoid shrubs that will get so tall that they begin to intersect with the branches of trees. And decks and fences are often no-nos.
“Raised wood decks around houses are a huge problem and the same with wooden fences,” says L.A.-based landscape architect David Hertz. “You shouldn’t have any fence that connects to a house. If you do have a fence, it should be made from a non-combustible, fire-rated material.” Options recommended by Northern California nonprofit Fire Safe Marin include fences in panelled steel and in fiber cement (which can be designed to look like wood).
A fire-resistant garden will also ideally include pathways that will create gaps between plantings; these can be laid down in a non-flammable substance like decomposed granite, cement, gravel or flagstone—and not wood chips.)
“When it comes to fire-resilient landscaping, you want to reduce continuity from plant to plant, and you are doing it vertically and horizontally. The sort of math of it all may be different from site to site, but you want to stop the chain of events from reaching your home,” says Blank. “You don’t want that orange tree right next to the home that leads up to the eaves or a wooden awning. You don’t want that perfect hedgerow of Italian cypress that is great for privacy between you and your neighbor but terrible for fire conditions.”
Rethink curb appeal.
Above: Landscape architect David Hocker designed a cacti-dominant front yard for a client in Los Angeles. Photograph by Brandon Shigeta, from Curb Appeal and a Cactus Fence for a Modern LA Gem.
Large trees should be nowhere near the house and instead sited at the furthest reaches of a property. Interestingly, a fire-resistant planting scheme is a 180-degree turn away from the traditional “curb appeal” approach to landscaping. “The classic approach is being on the sidewalk and looking at some lawn and there’s always like some medium-sized shrubs and then some large tree next to the home. We are reversing that,” says Blank. Adds Kameon, “You’re in a way designing for the person in the house who’s looking out.”
The result can be beautiful if done right: think groupings of plants that are placed according to height in the right zone with the garden bisected by paths that block the continuity of vegetation.
Says Kameon: “It’s going to be a very artful layering.”
Stay away from easy-to-ignite trees.
Above: A California live oak (Quercus agrifolia) underplanted with a carpet of manzanita (Arcostaphylos ‘Emerald Carpet’) greets visitors at a home designed by Feldman Architecture. Photograph by Jason Liske, from California Dreaming: A Golden Landscape on the Edge of the Continent.
Some plants have it in their genes to be fire-resilient. Over millennia, they evolved in tandem with the natural cycle of wildfires in the West. And at the top of that list are California’s native oaks, trees with grand canopies like the coast live oaks (which is found in coastal California and Mexico’s Baja peninsula) and the more uncommon Engelmann oak.
These trees have a hidden super power, as Blank explains: “Oaks are considered ember catcher plants. They have thick, well-hydrated, tough leaves and they don’t ignite easily.” On top of that, those leaves aren’t easily blown off the tree by the sorts of high winds that made L.A.’s recent fires so severe.
Creating a grove of oaks at the perimeter of a property can provide a windbreak that also helps block embers from reaching the exterior of a house. (In the case of the L.A. fires, January’s strong Santa Ana winds, which gusted up to 80 miles an hour, were responsible for blowing embers up to a mile.) The Western sycamore and the hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia) have also adapted to survive fires, with the ability to grow new shoots after being significantly burned.
By contrast, a rogue’s gallery of other trees are just tinder-boxes waiting to happen. Palms are particularly prone to becoming a ball of fire, due to the trees’ fibrous tissue as well as the fact that homeowners are not always vigilant about removing dried-out dead fronds. In fire-prone Malibu, the city has prohibited palms as well as eucalyptus trees, pines, cypresses and cedars from being planted within 50 feet of any structures. “Eucalyptus are an invasive species and they’ve got so much [resinous] sap that they actually create more fire,” warns L.A.-based architect Laura Hoad.
Prioritize climate-appropriate plants.
Above: Succulents in a garden designed by Kameon. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Gardenista.
Native plants, no matter where you live, are generally a fire-wise choice—but not necessarily because they’ve adapted to fires. Choosing native plants means that your garden will be filled with vegetation that can mostly live on your area’s typical yearly rainfall. These natives are then more likely to stay hydrated and not need (that much) supplemental watering compared to some introduced ornamentals. Natives, notes Blank, “are used to your rainfall conditions. A little supplemental water to keep them hydrated doesn’t mean you have to water two times a week. It means you give them some water during the summer once every two weeks or so—a good soak. And then they should hold onto that moisture and make themselves less susceptible to fire conditions.” Blank is a fan of such native shrubs as toyon, lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia), Sugar bush (Rhus ovata) and various California species of Prunus because not only can they stay hydrated in California’s climate but they also provide precious habitat for local species.
For guidance on what to plant in your area, check to see if your local county or fire department offers a guide. In Los Angeles, the L.A. County Fire Department has published an extensive list of plants that are recommended and those that are no-nos. Among those “undesirable” plants are trailing junipers (which officials in Boulder County, Colorado, have called “gasoline plants”) and Pampas grass. Surprisingly, some natives are on the L.A. County list—like California buckwheat and native sages—because they can easily build up a jumble of dead branches if not regularly maintained.
“It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure out that the hydration level of a plant helps it be more resilient to direct flames,” says Blank, who also underlines the critical importance of clearing out any dead wood or brush. “The mantra is lean, clean and green.” Adds Kameon, “What we’re talking about is that you don’t let your gardens dry out to the point that they become fuel, even if you are creating low-water gardens like we do in Southern California.” She also extensively uses plants from other Mediterranean climates in her landscape designs, flora from South Africa, Australia and Chile that’s similarly adapted to dry summers. “Climate-appropriate plants are the focus of the plants that we work with,” says Kameon.
According to L.A. County’s list, some plants that display high-fire resistance include agapanthus, mondo grass, Bear’s breeches (Acanthus mollis), liriope, coastal strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis), snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum), clivia, and loads of succulents. “Succulents are great and there are thousands of them and they’re gorgeous every scale and size,” says Kameon, who shares that some of her favorites are kalanchoes. “That’s like a whole world that I could play in forever, from the big leafy bronze-colored Kalanchoe beharensis to the little tiny fuzzy tomentosa.” she says. Other faves include sedums (as groundcovers), aloes (“The hummingbirds love the flowers,” says Kameon) and mangaves, the result of hybridizing agaves. “Mangaves are not pointy, so I like to use them in gardens where children are. There’s one I love called Lavender Lady and it is lavender. It’s just beautiful. You know, there’s just a whole world of plants out there.”
To learn more about landscaping in fire-prone areas, Blank recommends checking out Adrienne Edwards and Rachel Schleiger’s 2023 book Firescaping Your Home: A Manual for Readiness in Wildfire Country.
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