Envision Ember Resistance

How do you picture the Zone 0 options under consideration?

January 2026. By Isara Ongwiseth: Language usually fails to adequately convey what can be experienced in a landscape. Infographics too. If you haven’t walked barefoot on a flagstone path, how would you evoke the sensation underfoot? The specific mix of birdsong in a garden with Toyon?

With multiple Zone 0 options still under consideration by the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, my aim here is to help you clearly envision them.

To give you the most apples-to-apples understanding, I asked our team to rebuild this Zone 0 in 5 different ways. (Kidding!) We used AI to calibrate one of our favorite photos of this 97% native garden deep in Mandeville Canyon. Before we get into it, a few notes for the haters:

  • The artwork on the deck in front of the window is glass. It will melt but not ignite.
  • The large golden grass to the left of the trail isn’t dead – it’s native Deer Grass with seed heads.
  • Trees have been added, not removed, from this property.

With all that out of the way, let’s dive into reviewing options!

Option 1

The most ember-resistant option under consideration, Option 1 requires the removal of in-ground plants and combustible mulch materials. It allows for small plants in containers, provided they are not near walls, windows or vents. Established trees, with some maintenance considerations, are also welcome within Zone 0.

An exponential number of design variations could keep with the architecture and high-design preferences of the homeowners while meeting Option 1’s requirements. Design A would be easier to keep litter free. Design B would require the owners watch for leaf collection in the gravel between our weekly visits.

Option 2-3

Like Option 1, Options 2 and 3 both require the removal of organic mulches. Established, well-maintained trees and potted plants are welcome. Options 2-3 also allow for some low-growing foliage, such as moss and natural lawn grasses, provided they are also distanced from windows, walls and vents. Option 3 opens the possibility for in-ground plants as tall as 18 inches.

To illustrate the difference between Option 2 and Option 3, we asked AI to punctuate the moss with a few Coast Dudleya. It would be a great fit for this home’s aesthetic and coastal location, in addition to being a slow growing, easy to maintain, and deep-rooting slope sustainer. We may need to send AI to Theodore Payne Foundation’s California Native Plant Landscaper Certification courses! The silver blobs are as close as it came to capturing the delights of Dudleya.

Option 4

The only foliage restriction in Option 4 involves the removal of dead foliage and litter. Even high-mass shrubs would be welcome within 5-feet of homes. Like Options 1-3, Option 4 requires the removal of combustible mulches.

Option 4 requires only that foundation foliage be living and well maintained.
The area must still free of the combustible mulch.

Foliage of any size would be compliant with this option. Yet, the homeowners of this property want to preserve the spectacular canyon views from their windows. If they asked for more foliage or larger plants, we might add mix of hardy, deep rooting Chaparral Yucca in a bed of Beach Strawberry. In the rendering above, Indian Mallow and Red Buckwheat sit at the edge of a biological pond a few inches from the hardy-board enclosed deck wall.

Context: Home Hardening Matters

While the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has no influence on home hardening requirements, we think home first when designing a landscape for fire defense. We have an abundance of design freedom in this space, as the homeowners long ago enclosed open decks, installed fire rated vents, added rooftop sprinklers, and installed metal screens to enclose their windows and frames at the flick of a switch.

Ample window and deck spaces overlook LA’s storied Mandeville Canyon.

DefensibleSpace.org does a beautiful job of walking through the trade-offs and relative return on investments related to home hardening and landscape renovation measures. More on the evolution of this specific property and its fire defensive maintenance follow.

See More

See more of this exceptional Mandeville Canyon property and learn which option the homeowners selected, or walk through our fire defensive design process with Cassy:

Before the garden’s latest renovation, Oscar Ortega and Cassy spoke with Univision 34 Los Angeles about the homeowner behaviors and landscape maintenance practices that amplified the fire defensive structure of the landscape.