Landscaping In Florida
With Fire In Mind And Selecting And Maintaining
Firewise Plants For Landscaping
By Kathryn Merry (Hammock), Master Gardener
With the recent fires in neighboring communities and drought
conditions favoring fires, we all need to become more diligent in ensuring the
safety of the Melbourne Village
parks, paths and fields (and our homes).
The following information is available through the University
of Florida Horticultural Program
(UF/IFAS). I have condensed two articles
to give an overview but encourage you to read the entire text and evaluate your
landscaping and neighboring woodlands.
The articles with Internet links are:
For homeowners who live in an area with a medium to high
risk of wildfire, this document provides useful information for protecting your
property. Creating an area of defensible
space is one of the most important. Defensible space is defined as an area of
modified vegetation between natural areas (e.g., woodlands) and homes that
breaks up the continuity of plants and allows firefighters to protect the home
or, in the absence of firefighters, allows the home to better survive on its
own. Recommendations for defensible space suggest maintaining an area extending
at least 30 feet outward from a house with plants that are low in flammability
(referred to as firewise plants). In
summary, the most important characteristics of firewise plants are:
- High
moisture content. The moisture content of leaves and branches is the
single most important factor influencing the flammability of individual
plants.
- Broad
and thick leaves. Thin leaves or needles tend to dry out quickly and
ignite easily.
- Low chemical content.
The presence of oils or other chemicals in the leaves and branches can
increase flammability.
- Open
and loose branching patterns.
- Deciduousness.
Deciduous plants are generally less flammable than evergreens.
- Low amounts of dead
materials. The accumulation of dead leaves and branches on plants can
increase flammability.
To
maintain a firewise landscape, the following routine maintenance practices must
be conducted within the area of defensible space:
- Maintain
vertical and horizontal separation between groups or islands of
landscape plants.
- Prune shrubs and trees
periodically to reduce fuel volume, to maintain healthier plants, and
to prevent development of ladder fuels.
- Remove dead leaves and
branches from standing vegetation and from the ground.
- Remove
dead annual plants.
- Water
plants adequately to maintain healthy plants and prevent drought
stress.
If each homeowner implemented just a few landscaping
techniques toward making their yards more defensible to reduce the
vulnerability of their home to wildfire the Village as a whole would better
survive should a wildfire be present.
Take time to review these documents and to address your landscaping with
respect to reducing its vulnerability to wildfire.
(May 2008)
