Sierra Madre Post Office

Experience an Vibrant, Verdant, Wildfire-Ready Garden

Location: 61 S. Baldwin Avenue, Sierra Madre

Open: Visible 24×7

Cost:  Free

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Retired fire fighters Bob Spears and Jim Walsworth spearheaded the renovation of the Sierra Madre Post Office gardens, an effort funded by the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District and the Sierra Madre community. They envisioned replacing highly combustible, high mass junipers and arson grasses in favor of a fire defensive demonstration garden.

The landscape is a great place to get an embodied sense of just how lush and leafy the garden of a wildfire-ready structure can be. A mix of concrete and secured gravel ensure comprise the first 5 feet from the structure’s foundation. This fully ember-resistant zone has been shown to reduce the chance of structure ignition by as much as 50 percent.

A gravel path wraps a portion of the Baldwin-facing side.
Heat and drought resilient foliage sits just beyond Zone 0.
The abundant tree canopy is pruned to keep 5-feet from the eves and siding.
The foliage evolves with the seasons – it’s perpetually full of wildlife-supporting blooms, berries and seeds.

Beyond that initial 5 feet, the garden is lush, leafy, verdant, vibrant, and authentic to LA’s foothills. FormLA Landscaping maintains the space, ensuring foliage stays in good health and form. Intentional space between clusters of foliage protects foliage health and can inhibit a fire’s plant-to-plant travel. We apply compost grade mulch in these open spaces to help maintain cool soil temperatures and hydration.

We cannot recommend keeping or planting palms. The other trees can be considered ember-blockers.

Here are a few garden level fan favorites to seek out as you visit.

Blue Eyed Grass greets visitors at the Balwin entrance.
White Sage waves to traffic on Baldwin Avenue.
Doublas Iris and Alumroot overlook the bioswale.
Sunny Monkey Flowers greet visitors on Mariposa.

A Community Story

Spears and Walsworth set the vision, fundraised for the project, and earned the property owners’ consent to renovate. FormLA Landscaping’s Isara Ongwiseth designed the garden, affirming key choices with the community along the way.

Once surrounded by high-mass and highly flammable junipers, the post office garden now features an ember resistant Zone 0, a stormwater-sinking bioswale, and drought-resistant indigenous foliage.

Construction and installation included what felt like all of Sierra Madre! Spears and Walsworth installed much of the garden’s infrastructure, including the expansive bioswale; the subsurface, low-flow, drip irrigation on weather based controllers; and the bench that hides the irrigation controls. The garden’s native foliage was installed by the Sierra Madre community, led and instructed by FormLA team members. (This town is a dream team!)


The extraordinary rains of 2023 quickly grew the foliage. It’s hard to believe the now fragrant, evergreen, ever-blooming, and ever-berrying wildlife habitat started from this well-spaced and placed start.

Isara Ongwiseth, US Representative Judy Chu ,Bob Spears, Jim Walsworth,
Mayor Robert Parkhurst, and Georgia Case.

In April of 2023, Spears, Walsworth and Case were honored with congressional recognition for this effort by U.S. Representative Judy Chu, who joined for the garden’s dedication. Learn more about the project timeline, stakeholders, fundraising, material acquisition, and volunteer engagement from Bob Spears in our Client Insights.

Eagle Scout Noah Posin led the expansion of the ember resistant zone between the structure and vacant lot.

Eagle Scout Expansion

In October of 2024, Spears inspired the expansion of the ember resistant zone (Zone 0) around the Post Office. Noah Posin, an Eagle Scout with Pasadena Scout Troop 5, guided the work, which also included removing the arson grasses filling the vacant lot between the post office and its residential neighbors.

Plant Palette

While no plant is fire proof, there are plants that hold hydration well in high, dry heat and do not travel to wild spaces. When well placed, spaced and maintained, they can be fire defensive. See our Pinterest page for the Sierra Madre Post Office palette and those of several other fire defensive gardens.