Summer 2020 - Volume 1, Issue 3

Hello Gardeners,
We hope that our summer newsletter finds you and your family doing well and able to cope with our world in turmoil. The UC Master Gardener Program is still taking all precautions possible to help minimize exposure and spread of COVID-19, following all guidelines and recommendations from Public Health officials and the CDC. We are finding ways to adapt to a new normal: virtual classes and recruitment, Zoom meetings, video instructions, etc.

Our biggest fundraiser, the Great Tomato Plant Sale morphed into the Great Tomato Plant Share . We also thank you and the whole community for supporting us and make our Big Dig Day of Giving a tremendous success.

Due to the time of year and last year's devastating fires, Firescaping will be our main topic today. Dave Winnacker , Orinda-Moraga Fire Chief mentioned in his SF Chronicle interview " Fire season is not going to take a year off because of the COVID-19 crisis." We will be reviewing key points from Andrea Salzman's article on Firescaping (Summer Issue 2019) and give you some additional information on how to become more pro-active in protecting yourself and your property.

Our demonstration gardens are still closed to the public, dedicated volunteers however show up daily to water, harvest and donate our vegetables and fruits. Volunteers at Rivertown (previously called Mangini) have a grand plan focusing on best gardening practices for Antioch's micro-climate.

Find out whether you answered our Spring Issue Quiz correctly and try another challenge today!
Enjoy reading!

Hedwig Van Den Broeck, Editor
From our Bay Area County Director,
Frank McPherson
The UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County asked for your support and you gave it to us!

Thank you for supporting our mission to encourage sustainable gardening practices in our community, schools and demonstration gardens across Contra Costa County.
"Please thank the volunteers on the amazing job they did on big dig day and plant give away, considering the challenging circumstances we are currently in, the work they did was truly fantastic, my congratulations to the whole team."

Frank McPherson, Bay Area County Director
Fire Season is here!
A Firescaping guide to protect homeowners during California wildfires

Our beautiful state of California has a Mediterranean climate, with winter rains and hot, dry summers. Historically, fire has been a natural seasonal occurrence. Due to climate change fire now threatens the western states throughout the whole year. Not only do wildfires occur more frequently, they are also becoming more and more intense. The devastating Camp Fire in Butte County was the deadliest and most destructive fire on record in the state. When we factor in California’s growing population and the desire to live closer to nature and wildfire-prone areas, we must be proactive and take steps to protect our properties and our communities.
What is Firescaping
F irescaping is landscape design that reduces the vulnerability of your house and property to wildfire. The goal is to develop a landscape with a design and choice of plants that offer the best defensible, survivable space and enhance the property. The ideal is to surround the house with things that are less likely to burn.
Defensible Space
Firescaping integrates traditional landscape functions with a design that reduces the threat from wildfire. It includes planting for fire safety, vegetation modification techniques, use of fire safety zones, and defensible space principles.
CalFire is a rich resource for creating Defensible Space.
There are two zones that make up the 100 feet of Defensible Space Zone:
Zone 1 is 30 feet from any buildings, structures, decks, etc. It is the most critical defensible space area. 
Zone 2 extends 100 feet out from buildings, structures, etc. (or 70 feet beyond Zone 1). 
Pictures used above are courtesy of UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County, CalFire and losgatos.ca.gov
Plant Selection

All plants will burn given the right conditions. “ Fire Smart” plants are less flammable. These are mostly low-growing plants with high moisture content. Their stems and leaves are not resinous, oily, or waxy.
Deciduous trees are generally more fire resistant than evergreens because they have a higher moisture content when in leaf and a lower fuel volume when dormant, and they typically do not contain flammable oils.
Minimize use of coniferous shrubs and trees within 30 feet of a structure because they often contain oils, resins, and waxes that make these plants burn with great intensity.
Use ornamental grasses and berries sparingly because they also can be highly flammable.
Fire Smart Plant characteristics:
Aeonium
Cercis Occidentalis - Western Redbud
When choosing plants or identifying which plants to keep when performing fuel modification, look for fire-resistant plants that:
  • Store water in leaves or stems
  • Produce very little dead or fine material
  • Possess extensive, deep root systems for controlling erosion
  • Maintain high moisture content with limited watering
  • Grow slowly and need little maintenance
  • Are low-growing in form
  • Contain low levels of volatile oils or resins
  • Have an open, loose branching habit with a low volume of total vegetation.

The moisture content of plants is important, because high levels of plant moisture can lower fire risk and act as a heat sink, reducing the intensity and spread of fire .
Characteristics of flammable plants:
Manzanita
Fountaingrass
Avoid purchasing or consider removing highly flammable plants:
  • retain large amounts of dead material within the plant
  • produce a large volume of litter
  • contain volatile substances such as: oils, resins, wax, or pitch
  • produce a large volume of litter
Maintenance
T o create a  Fire - Smart  landscape, maintenance and design are often more important than the  plant  species itself. Firescaping practices diminishes the possibility of ignition, lowers fire intensity, and reduces how quickly a fire spreads, all of which increases the likelihood that your home will survive.
Good firescaping practices are:
  • Proper watering and pruning
  • Separating plants and creating islands that function as mini fire breaks
  • When placing trees in a landscape, remember the tree’s size at maturity
  • Keep tree limbs at least 15 feet from chimneys, power lines, and structures
  • Some specimen trees can be used near a structure if pruned properly and well irrigated
  • Removal of any fallen or windblown leaf litter or debris to prevent smoldering embers from igniting structures.

Most plants will benefit from occasional corrective pruning, and all will benefit from the removal of dead wood. Time the pruning of individual plants over several years to allow them to recover. Never cut away more than a third 1/3 of a plant in a given year, since this could kill it.

Y ou can improve the fire safety of your property by properly designing and maintaining your landscape. Make sure there is horizontal and vertical separation between plants. If a fire occurs, this will minimize the spread of fire between your plants, and from your plants to your home. Firescape design for defensible space uses driveways, lawns, walkways, patios, parking areas, areas with inorganic mulches, and fences constructed of nonflammable materials such as rock, brick, metal or cement to reduce fuel loads and create fuel breaks. Fuel breaks are a vital component in every firescape design. Water features, pools, ponds, or streams can be fuel breaks. 

Here are some wildfire preparedness tips from the Orinda Sleepy Hollow neighborhood association, a firewise community

Read more about preventing fires around the house from Diablo FireSafe Council
Mulch Can Be Flammable Too
Mulch has a lot of positive attributes. It keeps the soil cooler and less watering is needed, it reduces weeds and prevents soil compaction and erosion. Many mulches however are also combustible.

Inorganic mulches such as decomposed granite, gravel, or rocks offer superior fire-proofing as landscape mulches and should be used when mulch is needed within 5 feet of buildings or any combustible structural materials such as siding or decking.
  • The least flammable organic mulch is well-rotted compost, up to 3” thick.  This is now the recommended option for Sonoma County vineyards, encouraging them to switch from wood chip mulch to compost, due to risk of embers smoldering in wood chip. 
  • From 5' to 30' away from structures, composted wood chips are the best choice of the materials tested for residential landscape use. They are organic and will still burn, but tend to burn at the lowest speed and lowest flame length. If this material is ignited, it could still ignite siding, plant debris and other combustible materials. The smoldering of this product could also go undetected by firefighters during a wildfire. 
  • Shredded rubber, pine needles and shredded redwood or cedar bark can have their place in your landscaping design, just further from your home. These materials could be used selectively for landscaping at least 30’ from your home (and neighbors' homes), and 10' from roads or driveways or any accessory structures (including fences, outbuildings, play structures, etc).
Hardscaping
Firescape design for defensible space uses features constructed of nonflammable materials such as driveways, lawns, walkways, patios, parking areas, areas with inorganic mulches, and fences constructed of nonflammable materials such as rock, brick, metal or cement to reduce fuel loads and create fuel breaks.
Fuel breaks are a vital component in every firescape design. Water features, pools, ponds, or streams can be fuel breaks. Areas where wildland vegetation has been thinned or replaced with less flammable plants are traditional fuel breaks. Boulders and rocks can be fuel breaks. Remember, while bare ground is an effective fuel break, it is not recommended as a firescape element due to aesthetic, soil erosion, and other concerns.
Community Effort
When it comes to wildfire, no single person alone can protect a community . Community wildfire prevention practitioners  are the “spark plugs” in a community who are working with their neighbors, fire departments, agency partners, and others to prepare their community for the eventuality of wildfire. Many are organized as  Fire Safe Councils , others may be  Resource Conservation Districts ,  Firewise  communities, homeowners associations, watershed councils, or other community organizations.
Earlier this year Master Gardener, Kitty Lenhart and her husband as well as many neighboring homes had to evacuate in the middle of the night. Orinda and Moraga are extremely fire prone and many streets are dead-ends with no way out. Read Kitty's story : After hearing 2 explosions, the house next door burned down completely.....
David Winnacker, Orinda-Moraga Fire Chief
Fire season is not going to take a year off because of the COVID-19 crisis . Uncontrolled wildfire poses a major threat throughout the West because high fuel loads have accumulated for over a century in wildland/urban interface areas where naturally occurring fire has been suppressed.
Reducing these fuels requires a great deal of hands-on labor, but the value of doing this work to reduce wildfire intensity is proven. COVID-19 will also make fighting wildfires this summer far more difficult. The very measures we are relying on the combat COVID-19 — social distancing, minimized exposure to people outside your immediate family, and enhanced hygiene — are almost impossible to follow in a wildland fire setting.


For more information from Dave Winnacker, watch the following videos:


Mr. Winnacker also mentioned that in regard to the fire season, Moraga-Orinda Fire District ( MOFD ) offered community chipping through the spring resulting in approximately 190 tons of material being removed from the community and is currently carrying out inspections to ensure residents have removed combustive vegetation from their parcels . More information is available here.
Succulents in a Fire smart Landscape
We cannot stress enough how important succulents are when creating a fire-resistant landscape. Not only do these plants have low-watering needs, they also store up to 80% of the available water. Here are a few good examples:
Aloe kedongensis  has a growth habit somewhat like bamboo, with canes that grow to about 12 feet and cluster densely. This upright-growing succulent also works well as a screen for creating privacy or hiding ugly spots such as a pile of rubble or a block wall, as a thick hedge and as a fire barrier
Portulacaria afra , also known as elephant’s food, is an upright-growing plant (8-12 feet tall) with reddish brown stems and emerald green leaves. This small-leaved succulent is cold tolerant to 25 degrees
Senecio mandraliscae , also known as blue chalk sticks, is a fast-growing groundcover known for its beautiful blue color. Extremely fire resistant, this low-maintenance plant works well under larger plantings and helps prevent erosion. It is cold tolerant to 30 degrees.
Agave franzosinii   can reach dimensions of more than 25 feet. Grown for its foliage, this succulent has powder blue leaves with leaf-printing marks. It is cold tolerant to 20 degrees.
Our Demonstration Gardens
  • The Richmond Dry Demonstration Garden is OPEN while observing social distancing requirements.
  • Our Garden in Walnut Creek is CLOSED.
  • Rivertown Demonstration Garden in Antioch (formerly Mangini) is CLOSED.
Our Great Tomato Plant Share
We had to cancel our biggest fundraiser, the Great Tomato Plant Sale. Instead we have donated plants to 48 community and school gardens in Contra Costa, as well as to Oakland Unified School District.
‌
The Help Desk
Got a Gardening Question? Our Help Desk is staffed 50 weeks of the year, 
Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.-Noon. 
Currently, we are communicating through email ONLY
Email us at ccmg@ucanr.edu .

In your email request:
  • Include your name and city (plant advice depends on local conditions!).
  • Describe the problem in detail. Include the name of the plant if known, when the problem began, and cultivation history such as watering, fertilizing, pruning, pesticides, etc.
  • Send photographs, if appropriate.
Some extra Resources and a Quiz

Bonus : This excellent and engaging fire-smart landscaping video from the University of California is worthwhile watching—less than 7 minutes.
~ ~ ~
Quiz: I do not sting and generally do not bite people either. I have been around for 300 million years. When first hatched, our larva or nymphs live in the water for around a year. We do not like Indonesia because people there like to eat us for a snack. When I land on your head, it is considered good luck.
Who am I?
The answer to our Spring issue quiz :
This time of year I grow abundantly in forests and probably in your garden too as long as the
weather is cool and damp. At first I look like a little green rosette. Later on, it appears that a
small white (sometimes pale pink) flower grows through my mature circular leaves. Alice
Waters had me on her salad menu at Chez Panisse. I am loaded with Vitamin C. However, just
like spinach, I also contain a lot of oxalates, which are not good for you".

Who am I?
Miner's lettuce   
( Claytonia perfoliata )
~ ~ ~
Buds turn into blossoms and acorns turn into oak trees. The same programming that exists in them exists in each of us -- to manifest our highest potential.
What is the difference between those things and us? That we have free will. That we can say no...
So today, say yes!

I found this quote in Marianne Williamson's newsletter. It struck me because our world is still in crisis and we need to learn to navigate a chaotic storm. The recent spike of Covid-19 didn't come as a surprise, but the severity has set us back a bit. Some of us have reached a plateau and do not wish to return back to strict regulations. If you are one of them, please reconsider.

In the meantime
Stay Happy and Healthy!
Keep Others Happy and Healthy.
Pictures used in this newsletter are courtesy of the University of California, FireSafe Marin, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, CalFire, losgatos.ca.gov, UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County, Sonoma County, and Marin County

Visit us at our website , subscribe to our Hort CoCo blog or follow us on social medi a