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Learn how to 'firescape' and protect home from wildfire

El Dorado Hills fire station and master gardeners team for free public workshop

Red and white blossoms on salvia plant
Salvia, such as the popular "Hot Lips" variety, is a good choice for firescaping
as well as for drought resistance. Learn about firescaping during a free class
Saturday. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

When it comes to wildfire, your landscaping can help save your house or cabin.

Learn how during a special free public class hosted by gardening and fire experts – local master gardeners and firefighters.

This in-person presentation is a collaboration between the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of El Dorado County and the El Dorado Hills Fire Department, with a local fire station (No. 85) serving as classroom.

From 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 23, El Dorado County master gardener Kit Veerkamp will team with Tim White, also a master gardener and a member of the fire district’s board of directors. They’ll focus on home hardening – ways to make it tougher for fire to ever get a toehold near your house. The class also will cover current guidelines and recommendations about defensible space as well as what to plant in a fire-wise landscape.

“Fire Resiliency for El Dorado Hills” will particularly highlight the challenges faced by fire-prone Sierra foothills communities. That includes both firefighting and drought. A fire-wise garden can be water-wise, too.

A big difference between firescaping and low-water gardening: Plant choice. Such favorite low-water Mediterranean plants as rosemary burn easily due to the high oil or resin content in their leaves. Evergreen conifers such as pines also may not be fire-wise – even though they may be native. Low-water native grasses tend to burn rapidly.

Among the plants recommended for firescaping: Daylily, butterfly bush, lavender, salvia, coreopsis and ceanothus.

No advance registration is necessary for Saturday’s class. El Dorado Hills Fire Station No. 85 is located at 1050 Wilson Blvd., El Dorado Hills.

For more information, email
mgeldorado@ucanr.edu or call 530-621-5512.

Details: https://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/


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Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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