Protecting Homes.
Preserving
Landscapes.
Create a safer perimeter without sacrificing the design, style, or character of your landscape.
Not Sure What Needs to Change Around Your Home?
Send photos of the first five feet around your home and get a personalized, plain-English action list within 48 hours — free while we have capacity. An educational review of what we can see in your photos, not an official inspection or certification.
Free while spots last · Educational review · Confidential · Delivered within 48 hours
Photo Review request received
Thanks — your photos and property details are in. We’ll review the first five feet around your home for visible ember vulnerabilities and send your personalized action list within 48 hours. There’s no charge and nothing to pay.
Lean. Green. Clean.
Three principles guide every design and maintenance decision, from the first 5 feet outward.
Create breathing room between plants so your landscape is safer and easier to maintain.
Choose and care for plants that stay healthy, resilient, and appropriate for your property.
Keep the area around your home free of dry leaves, dead material, and other ember-catching debris.
Planting With Purpose
Fire safety and a beautiful property aren't in conflict. Here's how planting, materials, and design work together.
Design Guidance, Not a Plant List
A fire-adapted landscape should do more than reduce fuel. It should create structure, color, texture, and continuity across the property. These reliable plant choices show how placement, spacing, maintenance, and design can work together to create a landscape that is both beautiful and better adapted to wildfire.
Give the landscape shape and backbone. Manzanita 'Dr. Hurd' sheds embers off its smooth bark and needs excellent drainage, avoiding summer irrigation once established. Toyon plays the same role at a larger scale — broad, moist leaves that tend to resist ignition better than many chaparral shrubs, spaced at least 10 ft apart in individual stands.
Bring color and pollinator activity to the landscape. California Buckwheat is fine-textured and tightly packed, a standard choice in defensible-space plantings. California Lilac 'Concha' adds spring blue blooms with dense, moisture-rich foliage when properly spaced.
Soften edges, borders, and containers while keeping planting intentional around the home. Canyon Live-Forever is a compact, moisture-rich succulent well suited to containers. Common Yarrow works as a low-water lawn substitute — mowing it flat helps keep fuel volume low and foliage moisture relatively high.
Tie designed planting into the surrounding landscape. California Sagebrush is fine and aromatic, kept well-spaced from neighboring shrubs. Coast Live Oak, pruned to clear ladder fuel beneath it, brings thick, moist bark.
California Native vs. Traditional Landscaping
| California Native | Traditional Non-Native |
|---|---|
| Minimal water (relies on rainfall) | High water (frequent irrigation) |
| Low maintenance (less pruning/fertilizer) | High maintenance (weekly labor & expense) |
| High wildlife value (attracts pollinators) | Low wildlife value |
Non-Combustible Transitions
Stone, concrete, pavers, gravel, and decomposed granite (DG) create fuel breaks that read as intentional design — not a bare perimeter.
Compliance That Looks Intentional
Pairing architectural stone with drought-tolerant planting keeps a property's character — the goal is a designed landscape, not a stripped one.
Problem → Better Approach
Hover, tap, or focus each card to see a common Zone 0 problem next to a fire-adapted alternative.
Continuous Planting — Fire Hazard
Separated Planting — Fire-Adapted
Tap or Hover
Italian Cypress Toyon
Organic Material Near Home
Non-Combustible Transition
Tap or Hover
Wood Bark DG & Agave
Rosemary — Oil-Rich Hazard
White Sage — Fire-Adapted
Tap or Hover
Rosemary White Sage
Juniper — Ember-Catching
Manzanita — Fire-Adapted
Tap or Hover
Juniper Manzanita
Understand the Zones
Defensible space radiates out from the structure in rings, each with different rules for what can grow there.
Ember-resistant zone. Non-combustible gravel, pavers, and hardscape only — no woody plants touching the structure.
Lean. Green. Clean. Low, well-spaced, well-irrigated native plants with no ladder fuels.
Reduced fuel zone. Spaced shrubs, limbed-up trees, and regularly mowed grasses.
Tools & Reference Material
Self-audit tools, checklists, and official sources — everything short of an on-site visit.
Property Fire Risk Audit Calculator
Five yes/no questions on the conditions that most often let embers catch near a home’s foundation — the same things we look for on a Photo Check. Answer honestly and you’ll get a snapshot of where your property stands today, plus which condition to address first. It’s a practical starting point, not an official AB 3074 inspection or legal determination.
Zone 0 Compliance Checklist
Once you know what to look for, work through the four highest-impact retrofits in the 0–5 ft zone. Your progress is saved in this browser.
A self-audit tool for homeowner reference, not a substitute for an official AB 3074 compliance inspection.
FAQ & Official Resources
Is Zone 0 final yet? When do these rules take effect?
What's the compliance timeline for existing homes?
What is Assembly Bill 3074 (AB 3074)?
Are bark and wood mulch allowed in Zone 0?
Do I have to remove all plants from the 5-foot perimeter?
Official AB 3074 Text
The legislation itself, via California Legislative Information. The Board of Forestry and Fire Protection approved final implementing regulations on August 19, 2026.
From Assessment to Ongoing Care
Assess
Photo review to identify what needs attention.
Design
A plan that balances Zone 0 requirements with how the property looks and functions.
Landscape
Fire-adapted planting selected and placed by zone.
Hardscape
Non-combustible materials where they're needed most.
Maintain
Ongoing lean/green/clean upkeep to keep the work effective.