Fire-resilient Landscaping with Native Plants

A fire-resilient landscape "has little to do with a plant list -- and everything to do with hydration," says Greg Rubin, owner of California's Own Native Landscape Design. He favors native California plants for home gardens because "they are designed -- by millions of years of evolution, not by human intervention -- to hold water and resist heat, when properly hydrated."

Greg shared insights from more than 31 years of experience designing native landscapes during our (standing room only) April 16, 2026 meeting, co-hosted with the Solana Beach Civic & Historical Society. Greg is a recognized leader in the field, whose first career as an aerospace engineer has informed his focus on the aerodynamics of wind-driven fire. "Block, catch and cool embers -- that's really where it's at," Greg explained.

"We've had 25 client homes that have experienced major fire events . . . and we have yet to lose a home," he said. Although there are no guarantees, his approach to fire-resilient landscaping also was successfully tested in a four-year research study with the U. S. Navy, which was keen to learn how best to protect housing on their bases.

Greg has been working with California native plants since 1985. California's Own Native Landscape has designed more than 825 native landscapes in Southern California. Specialties include residential, commercial, and institutional gardens providing year-round appeal, low maintenance, water efficiency, rich pollinator and wildlife habitat, and fire-resistance.

"Lighly hydrated native vegetation can catch and cool embers, while providing obstacles to disturb the ferocious flow of wind-blown ignition sources before they hit your house," he explained. For home landscaping with native plants, he recommends overhead irrigation, which is key to matting down another "must have" -- mulching with shredded redwood bark. The mulch mats down and densifies when hydrated, so it smolders, rather than burns.

On canyon-facing slopes, he recommends a mix of native trees, such as oaks, sycamores and cottonwoods, as well as large shrubs such as toyon and lemonade-berry. They should be laid out to avoid groupings of more than three -- not planted in masses, or as "windbreaks" -- so that wildfire gusts pass through the vegetation rather than roaring over like a wave crashing hot embers onto the landscape. Beyond planted areas, natural native shrubbery should be maintained, Greg argues. Clearing chaparral simply results in a field of flammable weeds.

Greg has been featured in a number of periodicals including the Wall Street Journal, San Diego Union Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and Sunset and San Diego Home and Garden magazines. In 2018 he was named San Diego Horticulturist of the Year.

He is co-author of two books with Lucy Warren: "The California Native Landscape: the Homeowners’ Design Guide to Restoring its Beauty and Balance" and "The Drought-Defying California Garden." A third book on the "Care and Meintenance of California Native Landscapes" is in the works. Greg has also served on the boards of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation, California Native Plant Society, the Lux Art Institute, and the Garden Native foundation.