Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

During extended periods of drought, when the risk of wildfires is highest, your plant choices and their
placement in the landscape could make your home vulnerable to fire damage.

While we do want to encourage the use of shrubs and brush around the home, we don’t want to encourage it right up against the home. Especially things that are extremely flammable…

Such as yaupon holly and cedar. Marks Klym coordinates the Texas Wildscapes program for Parks and Wildlife. In cooperation with the Texas Forest Service’s Firewise program, Klym’s program endeavors to educate homeowners about plant choices that are hot, but not readily flammable.

Something that’s got a higher water content. Things that don’t tend to take fire from the ground towards the roof, because the roof is a sensitive area in most homes. Things that don’t take fire from the ground up into your window frames, which is another very sensitive area. You want to avoid our tall native grasses, because they have a tendency to dry out and become a firebox. Certainly, the other thing you can do is use that area for your hardscapes. Things like rock walls…walkways. These become a good barrier that the firs has difficulty jumping, unless you’ve got forty mile an hour winds.

We have the link to the Texas Fire-wise website, at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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