Concentric, measured, deliberate.
Three zones radiate from your home. Each has its own visual language and its own job in slowing a wildfire down.
The Ember-Resistant Zone
The most critical five feet on your property. No combustible plants, no mulch, no woodpiles — but absolutely not a barren strip. Use mineral aggregate, dry-laid stone, low succulents in containers, and architectural agaves. Treat it like the garden's threshold: deliberate, jewel-like, almost minimalist.
- Stone, decomposed granite, or concrete pavers
- Containers of agave, sedum, or sempervivum only
- Clean gutters; cover vents with 1/8″ ember mesh
- Nothing that drops leaves or sheds bark
The Lean, Lush Zone
Where most of the visible 'garden' lives. Drifts of low-water perennials separated by gravel paths and stone. Plants are well-irrigated, well-spaced, and chosen for low fuel volume. Think Mediterranean courtyard meets high-desert modernism.
- Lavender, salvia, yarrow, santolina in drifts
- Plant clusters separated by 4–6 ft of mineral mulch
- Drip irrigation on every bed
- Trees limbed up 6 ft; crowns 10 ft apart
The Reduced-Fuel Zone
Where the garden meets the wild. The goal isn't a clear-cut — it's a thinned, edited, intentional transition. Specimen oaks and madrones, manzanita drifts, rough-mown native grasses kept low. It should look like a particularly good national-park trailhead.
- Tree crowns spaced 10–20 ft apart
- Remove all dead wood and ladder fuels
- Native grasses mowed to 4″ in dry season
- Stone walls or DG paths as fuel breaks