Fire-Resilient Landscaping
When I first arrived in Boulder three years ago, I was super surprised at the water use for landscaping in the high-desert. (I was also a little annoyed I was woken up every morning by my neighbors’ systems at 5:00 am in the summer, rain or shine which made sleeping with the windows open much less desirable.) To me this way of using water seemed out of alignment with the idea of Stewardship, I look at water as a precious resource that has an incredibly complicated purification and supply system. As fires raged all around us that first summer, people were watering their lawns daily. It just didn’t seem logical. So I started Desert Bloom as a way to design with a focus on sustainability and water-wise plantings.
A community organizer friend in the Willowbrook neighborhood who lives directly on the WUI attended my Stewardship Gardening presentation at the library in the spring of 2024 and was curious about the resources for fire-resistant plants. He is also the one who introduced me to the Fire Adapted Colorado Neighborhood Ambassador training. I jumped into that opportunity for many reasons, primarily because of my love for the incredible natural beauty of Boulder. My family lives immersed in nature just blocks away from open space. But as we know, the risk of wildfire is real and it’s not a question of if, but rather when.
My role in as the FACO Neighborhood Ambassador is two fold; education and organization. On 2/4/25, I held a talk for residents with Steve Orr of Boulder Fire and Rescue to educate people about wildfire preparedness. The first action for homeowners is to schedule a detailed home assessment. It’s a free service during which the professionals from BFR spend up to two hours walking properties with homeowners. A detailed report is delivered to your inbox and suggestions for home hardening are available for review. In some cases, it may be suggested to remove existing landscape. Every property is different and the recommendations may be different, but the guidelines based in research are consistently clear for each of the home ignition zones (HIZ). The presentation is linked below. It’s a bit dense, but has resources compiled and I do hope you find it helpful. I’m also helping to organize the effort of hardening the neighborhood because we all know that fire doesn’t respect property lines. It has to be a community effort and I’m already gathering support from neighbors.
This deep dive into fire preparedness has evolved into broader focus for Desert Bloom to include both water-wise and fire-resilient landscape designs. Fire resilient landscaping involves strategic placement of low-flammability plants. CSU and OSU have long lists of appropriate plants and depending on the plant selections, hardscape is incorporated to create fire breaks in the garden. Every garden design is curated with the collaboration of the client and customized for the site using consistent fire-resiliency design principles.
I’d love to help you renovate your garden into an exquisite outdoor space that is both fire-resilient and water-wise. Let’s chat to get the process started.
Inspiration from Kaua’i
When immersed in the beauty of nature, I find it incredibly healing and so much easier to connect. At the end of December, I took the family off to paradise again. Hawaii is ranked as the happiest state and it is hard pressed not to be blissfully happy there.
We treasured the healing of the salt water, sounds of the waves, the grounding of the sun kissed sand, and the undeniable calming of our nervous systems. It was a tremendous and essential reset for us all; we returned to Boulder changed and upgraded.
Highlights of our trip included the days we spent touring two botanical gardens. The pictures speak for themselves, but the history of the land is a tale of human interference and finally a return to respect for Gaia. Nature’s intelligence with it’s healing compounds left for us to discover within the intricate creative matrix is truly awesome. My children and I were in awe over and over again as we toured the National Botanical Garden in Koloa on the south shore of Kauai. The history of the land is old. The marvelous, revered, Hawaiian Queen Emma saw the land as sacred. And Robert and John Gregg Allerton created a whimsical outdoor world. Now, the land serves as an outdoor classroom for visitors and hosts an impressive team of researchers who are making extraordinary impact in conservation and science in an effort to preserve native species, continue biocultural conservation and maintain and expand a critical conservation seed bank.
At the Limahuli Garden on the north shore of Kaua’i in Hā’ena, they are laboriously restoring the land where the indigenous people once flourished in the Limahuli Valley. With a focus on native Hawai’ian plants, those culturally sensitive (canoe plants delivered from Polynesia), and plantation era plants (when settlers thought it was a good idea to convert virgin rainforest to agricultural lands for crops like sugarcane and cattle), the collections are used to educate, perpetuate Hawai’ian culture and for conservation. The garden is beautiful and the task of restoration we observed is honorable.
As we returned to our active lives in Boulder, we carry with us deep connections we witnessed in Kaui’i and continue living mindfully connected to each other and the natural world. It’s an honor to be able to travel and observe, but the real work of stewardship happens at home in the incredible beauty of the ecosystems of Boulder, Colorado. I aim to design sustainable landscapes at Desert Bloom, am an OSMP volunteer and my children have learned first hand about stewardship by serving as Junior and Youth Rangers - What an impactful and engaging experience for youth.
As I continue to learn about the systems in place and my role as a citizen of not only Boulder, but of Gaia, I encourage you to get curious; how can you engage more actively in the preservation and conservation of the beautiful place we call home?
Looking for Ideas? Don’t keep them to yourself - Let’s chat! desertbloomlandscapedesign@gmail.com
Climate Change in Colorado Report
Wildfire Readiness
It’s 2025 and my resolution is to let them; to let things, people, circumstances I cannot control go. And that list is long. But wildfire preparedness is not one of them.
There are many titles on my vc, but the one most applicable for this topic today, is Earth-loving human. Desert Bloom Landscape Design is a landscape design firm rooted in the core principals of Stewardship Gardening and sustainability. I truly want to foster a greater, aligned way of landscaping in Boulder. As the Wildfire Neighborhood Ambassador for the University Hill Neighborhood, I’ve been trained by Fire Adapted Colorado and am part of a network of volunteers in the city and the Boulder Fire Department to work towards the goal of wildfire preparedness. The question is not if Boulder will have a wildfire, but when. Today I urge you to sign up for a Detailed Home Assessment with the city. Demand is high so please, simply follow this link and get scheduled.
Defensible Space Inspection Report
Here are additional resources for your perusal:
Fire-Resistant Landscaping - 6.303 - Extension
Low-Flammability Landscape Plants
If, after you remediate your property to the best of your ability per the DHA, you would like help redesigning your outdoor living space in accordance with fire-resistant principals, let’s chat: