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.
