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Notestein's Nursery
3701 NW 17th Street Premium Quality Peace GardensFostering PeaceOne Plant at a Time A Reprint from Call for
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Protect Your Family and Home from Wildfires...
with "Always-on-Guard" Firewise Agaves
If a wildfire threatens your home or neighborhood – call 911. Devastating wildfires are becoming more common. Exterior surfaces of existing buildings can be retrofitted to resist fire hazards. A landscape makeover would most likely be far less expensive.
Install Agaves (aka Century Plants) and other succulents (Aloes, Sedums, etc.) as the principle plant material within the 30 foot fire perimeter of your home. Fire retardant Agaves will push back against wildfire that might threaten your home. In a wildfire event, while you wait for mobile first responders – your firewise Agaves & other succulents are your residential “first responders”. The aggressive front line of a wild fire is opportunistic, but it requires burnable plants. Deny a wild fire the plant fuel it needs – the fire will retreat.
Your firewise landscape can include decorative rocks, gravel mulches, & other non-combustible elements in the 30 foot zone of highest fire risk. Southern Gardening offers many choices of Firewise Agaves, from two-inch high groundcover Agaves to monumental specimens that can spread to 30 feet diameter. Southern Gardening offers four Agave species with soft & yielding leaf tips & no teeth on the leaf edges (Huggable Agaves).
Your decision to become firewise should be mentioned to your fire insurance agent. Less fire risk deserves a premium discount. Spread the word…make things better. Firewise Agaves: visually striking, drought tolerant and low maintenance. Firewise Agaves: less risk, good for you!
For more firewise guidance: contact your county forestry agency, your county co-operative extensions service, or local landscape designers.