Fuel Breaks and Slopes
A resilient landscape is fire-wise, water wise and promotes biodiversity by using California native plants. These gardens use sustainable practices, approach plant selection and maintenance to reduce the risk of fire in the defensible space zone.
Resilient gardens save water, protect us from fire and promote biodiversity.

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Create fuel breaks by providing space between planting areas

Ladder Fuels: the distance between the understory plant and lowest tree limb is recommended to be 3x the understory plant height

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Create fuel breaks by: 

1. providing space between planting areas. A rule of thumb between planting areas is the space should be twice the height of the adjacent plants. (see diagram), but the space will increase with steeper slopes. Such spaces can include patios, pathways, drives, walls, or well-hydrated and drought tolerant grasses​ or low-growing herbaceous plants
2. eliminating “fuel ladders” under tall shrubs and trees. A rule of thumb is the distance from the lowest branches should be twice the height of the shrub or groundcover below
3. pruning plants to remove dead foliage and to keep an open growth habit

Keep tree limbs at least 10 feet from chimneys. Minimize ladder fuels that will take fire from the ground into the tree canopy; make sure that only low growing shrubs and groundcovers are under the tree branches.

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SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE DESIGN

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