Wildlife Gardens in the Fire Zone

As a Bay Area urban designer for four decades, I’m often called to design homes that are hardened against fire, which includes thinking carefully about vegetation within its defensible space zones. I’ve observed roughly 10 to 35 percent of a yard’s vegetation is removed or thinned to protect property and human life. That removal’s impact on biodiversity has not yet been fully studied, but a 10 percent reduction in habitat is significant.

Many habitat-supporting practices run counter to best practices for defensible space. Retaining brush piles, mulching with organic material, leaving downed logs and fallen foliage, and creating vertical layers of canopy trees with understory planting can all contribute to a fire ladder—the exact conditions defensible space is intended to reduce. So what can we do in areas requiring vegetation management? All of this has brought me to a central question: How can we create defensible space and support the natural world as much as possible?

First, we are not creating moonscapes. Plants are allowed in zones 1 and 2, so consider shifting toward a palette of wildlife-supporting native species. Place a rock pile to provide homes for invertebrates, reptiles, and amphibians. If you have limited opportunity for plantings, try what I call “superhost” plants, offering food and shelter to animals and ornamental and structural beautification for a yard. These are often considered relatively fire-resistant species if kept watered and pruned of deadwood. Most of my suggestions work on properties across the geographic range and ecosystems of the Bay Area, but where possible, use local plant stock to preserve regional genetics, and purchase from nurseries sourcing from your watershed. 

If you do not live in a restricted area: keep reading. Consider converting as much of your yard as possible into a habitat sanctuary or do the same in leftover spaces—successful projects can be found in street medians, at schools, in bioswale areas, and similar spots. Habitat islands are important to migrating wildlife. 

The goal is not to choose between safety and habitat, but to create landscapes respecting both. Through thoughtful plant selection, careful maintenance, and collaboration with local fire officials, our homes can become safer while the surrounding urban ecosystem remains connected and hardy.

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Coffeeberry (Frangula californica)

You’d be hard-pressed to pick a more “hostess with the most-est” plant. The glossy oval evergreen leaves are a soothing bright green, especially where an anchor planting or visual screen is welcome. The small green flowers bring in many, many butterflies, hoverflies (syrphids), and tiny native bees and later become shiny purple berries that birds and mammals feast on in fall and winter.

While I generally recommend plants sourced from your watershed, local coffeeberries can range from 6’ to 12’ tall and equally as wide; plants that large would be best for zone 2. Within zone 1, use the cultivar ‘Mound San Bruno’, which slowly grows to 4’ tall and 6’–8’ wide and can accept light shearing and shaping to stay smaller.

Wild Lilac (Ceanothus sp.)

These beautiful blue panicles of blooms brighten up our hikes in spring and call in all the nectaring butterflies. Check with your watershed’s native nurseries to see if your area has any unusual lilac species that you can host.

Wild lilac cultivars come in all shapes, from ground covers to small shrubs to as large as a small tree. Zone 1 is a perfect location for the 2’ tall x 4’ wide C. maritimus ‘Valley Violet’, especially if you are in an area with hot sun exposure.

Creeping Snowberry (Symphoricarpos mollis)

A fantastic ground cover that stays under 2’ (especially in the dry shade beneath our native oaks), creeping snowberry hosts the cutest moth—the speckled honeysuckle moth—which resembles its tiny white flower. It also hosts a spectacular clearwing moth.

This is a deciduous plant, losing its oval leaves in the fall—an event that highlights the charming way the white berries on the tips of the arching branches bring movement when they bob and sway. Spotted towhees always seem attracted to scratch for food in the drifts of these plants.

Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)

With its bright red berries and dense evergreen leaves, toyon offers both food and cover for birds. On a Christmas bird count, the participants know to stop and wait at each toyon—there is usually a hermit thrush or scrub-jay enjoying the feast the berries offer. The white flowers are a great nectar source for butterflies and bees. Best in zone 2 because it can get tall, this is a great background plant to create visual screening for privacy.

Manzanita (Arctostaphylos sp.)

Sometimes manzanita are listed as potentially flammable due to resins and a dry twig structure that can create a fire ladder. A healthy manzanita with 6’ of clearance around the plant can be incorporated into a fire-smart garden if it is kept irrigated and pruned of deadwood. You might research whether there are unusual native species in your area to add to your landscape. Another way to incorporate a manzanita is to choose a low-growing form, such as  ‘Emerald carpet’.

Western Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum)

There’s often a shady spot in the yard where some greenery is welcome. The western sword fern is here with its fronds to bring that visual interest and architectural form. In particular, I love seeing the new fuzzy fronds come up; they make this funny arched hook as they unfurl with the tip almost running parallel to the main rib. Give these a little room, 5’ from other plants or from edges, so you can appreciate the fronds. The fern, especially in small drifts, provides great cover for birds and invertebrates.

Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia)

With hundreds of vertebrate and invertebrate species hosted by our coast live oaks, I’d be remiss in not including this as a potential garden choice. Of course, your yard needs to be large enough to properly place one (or more) in zone 2. If you live where finding a fire-smart location is tough—perhaps because property lots are too close together—consider working with your community to find an appropriate planting spot nearby. For a few years, I had a squirrel-planted tree in my street verge and enjoyed the oak titmice visiting my very urban Oakland location. The day I discovered oak galls on it, I was amazed these tiny wasps could even find my tree given how far away I live from any oak woodland. 

Sticky Monkey-Flower (Diplacus aurantiacus)

A favorite trail break: watching dueling Anna’s hummingbirds in a chaparral patch. They are usually splitting their time between sipping from orange sticky monkey flowers and defending their territory. In the spring, watch variable checkerspot caterpillars with their curling black spikes as they munch on the leaves. This is a plant for which I’d try to locate local genetics. In testing some of the gorgeous cultivars sporting jewel-tone flowers in pinks, whites, and swirling psychedelic orange reds, I am noticing no one visits these—not even honeybees or hummingbirds. But in nature, this is a fantastic habitat plant that continually flowers for an extended time, a welcome trait for ornamental landscapes.

Coyote Mint (Monardella sp.)

Color! Sometimes our natives are appreciated for their subtle visual diversity. However, color is one of those rare occurrences I appreciate when I’m out hiking. There’s nothing like coming across a bank of midsummer flowering coyote mint and soaking in the purple. Usually because at that point in the year, I’m feeling deprived from wildflower withdrawal. Like bird counters who stop at toyon, the butterfly counters stop at coyote mint, as butterflies love nectaring on it.