Plants for the rings
Plants that belong in fire country
A plant list is only half of it. Spacing, pruning and water decide how a plant behaves. We choose with you from the lists your county and fire district publish.
Water-holding groundcovers
Sedums and other low, fleshy plants that hold water in their leaves. They suit the edge of zone 1.
Bunch grasses and perennials
Cut hard back each year so there is no dead thatch in the clump.
Deciduous trees
Native oaks and fruit trees drop their leaves in fall. Crowns stay apart and limbs are pruned up.
Gravel and stone
The ground cover for zone 0. We lay it on a weed barrier so it stays clean.
Drip, not spray
Plants in the rings need water in the dry months. We run and check drip lines; we don't water the house walls.
What we take out
Junipers, Italian cypress and bamboo against the house, and old shrubs heavy with dead wood.
Spacing
Room between plants matters as much as which plants
Plants in islands with open ground or gravel between them don't hand fire from one to the next, and none sits against the house.
Nothing woody under the eaves
Gaps between plants set from your district's guidance
Dead stems and old flowers cut out every year
Choose plants at the walk
We bring the county's list and look at your slope, soil and sun together.