Fire-Resistant Outdoor Plants to Be Displayed
Trailing ice plant and gazania, creeping sage, dwarf periwinkle--plants that not only produce vibrant colors but could also save lives and property during fires.
In response to the extensive property loss in the 1993 Southern California firestorms, the Ventura County Fire Department has organized three drought-tolerant, fire-resistant gardens in Camarillo and Thousand Oaks as an educational tool for the community and a research site for the department.
Native plants selected for the gardens also control erosion and require low, if any, maintenance, said Kevin Yates, a fire control worker who assisted in coordinating the garden at Fire Station 52.
All plants in the demonstration gardens are first tested out behind the fire station on the hill, Yates said.
“If people want to landscape their hillsides, they should plant some of these because they don’t have to cut them, don’t have to water them and they take full sunlight,” Yates said. “And then we wouldn’t have to come by each year and tell people to cut their weeds because they’re a fire hazard.”
The 10 plants that rated the highest for erosion control, irrigation effectiveness and low flammability include cape weed, matgrass, prostrate myoporum, trailing ice plant, anchor bay, creeping sage, dwarf coyote brush, African daisy, dwarf running myrtle and trailing gazania.
“Rather than hiring someone each year to cut down weeds for $600, people could pay that by buying these plants once and then planting them,” said Yates, who has worked with the Fire Hazard Reduction Program for six years.
“These plants will make a difference with wild land fires and help maintain a defensible space so that people don’t lose their homes,” Yates said. “Taking steps to keep a safe distance from wild land brush would be in their best interest.”
The sites, which are open to the public, are located at Fire Station 52 on Woodcreek and Santa Rosa roads in Camarillo, at Fire Station 30 on Hillcrest Drive behind The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks and at the Fire Department headquarters at the Camarillo Airport.
