Fire season can begin as early as May and continue as late as November. It is defined by the rainy season. It is a long season because the rainy season is not. Summer is naturally warm and arid. Native vegetation is consequently desiccated. It is no coincidence. Fire is unfortunately a natural component of the ecosystems here, and native vegetation knows it. Many exotic species also react to the meteorological influences that affect fire season. Some are from similar chaparral ecosystems. However, some are from other ecosystems that are likely less adapted to fire. Perhaps their native ecosystems are less relevant than associated meteorological influences, which is what they are actually reacting to. A forty percent chance of rain on Monday morning is the first chance of rain in a long time.

1. Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood is always messy and gets even messier when a breeze dislodges foliage which got desiccated by arid warmth. It is a bad combination.

2. Adiantum capillus–veneris, maidenhair fern also reacted to arid warmth. In the wild, foliar desiccation through summer is normal. It is not so normal in irrigated landscapes.

3. Musa acuminata X balbisiana ‘Blue Java’ banana would enjoy sustained warmth with more humidity. While humidity is inadequate, wind more easily shreds its flimsy foliage.

4. Musa acuminata ‘Kokopo’ or ‘Patupi’ banana is more sheltered from breezes and more generously irrigated, so can exhibit guttation overnight and into the cool early morning.

5. Amaryllis belladonna, naked lady is generating seed as it typically does by now. Seed is very perishable, but grows in soil that is damp from the first rain that ends fire season.

6. Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’ goldenrod is only fiery by name. It was a gift from Tangly Cottage Gardening. It is the only bloom I will brag about today, and our first goldenrod!

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

12 thoughts on “Six on Saturday: Fire Season”

  1. I learned a new word: ‘guttation.’ And I envy that goldenrod. I know it’s still a little early for it here, but I’m so eager to see it. As for fire, I have friends in Lake Elsinore who weren’t in the evacuation zones, but they’ve certainly been keeping an eye on the Trabuco Canyon fire. Hurricanes are bad, but I’ll take a hurricane over fire any day.

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    1. Oh, the goldenrod? It should have been more impressive. I let it get too dry. Is goldenrod not popular there? I get the impression that I was the last who was not growing it. The CZU Fire burned around two of my properties, literally. It burned all the way around one, and came within a few feet, but the vegetation within did not even wilt. It stopped at the road at another, but jumped over and incinerated homes beyond. It seemed so unfair. My properties are vacant. Fire would have only eliminated some unwanted overgrowth.

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      1. We have several species of native goldenrods, and when it’s ‘their time,’ the fields, roadsides, vacant lots, and such can fill with one or another of them. It’s just too early (i.e. warm and humid) for them to begin blooming. On the other hand, I saw my first Euthamia leptocephala yesterday; it’s visually similar, and often a precursor to other fall blooms.

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      2. So they are more of an autumn bloom than a summer bloom? Mine might not actually be late then. The two native species bloomed quite a while ago, but are not much to brag about. I only recently learned that they are goldenrod. They look like weeds.

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      3. Yes. I usually see the first in late September/October. Of course there may be individual plants that decide to bloom at odd times, but the goldenrods usually bloom in conjunction with plants like beautyberry, Maximilian sunflowers, Eupatoriums, and such.

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      4. Oh, beautyberry! That is another that I just got, only two years or so earlier. I had never seen anything like it here. They are seedlings, like those that grow wild in Virginia! In the future, I could get a cultivar with white berries, but I specifically wanted the wild sort first. Now that I grow them, I feel so . . . stylish!

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    1. NOT ENOUGH! The area was clear cut harvested for redwood about a century ago, with NO management afterward. Consequently, hardwoods grew up with regenerating redwoods. Also, redwoods regenerate with several trunks where there had been single trunks. The forest is now MUCH more combustible than it naturally was, but can not be allowed to burn freely because so many of us live here. (Redwoods are one of the few species that survives fire by being less combustible, and survives fire, but can be killed by fires that burn hotter with other vegetation mixed in.) The CZU Fire killed redwoods that survived many fires during the thousands of years that they lived in Big Basin because of the unnatural abundance of fuel. However, people who think of themselves as environmentalists want to ‘protect’ the forests with stringent regulations that only contribute to the increasing combustibility! Harvesting is illegal on most properties. To get building permits, residents are typically obligated to plant MORE trees on their properties, when they should be cutting trees down! It is ridiculous!

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      2. The controlled burns happen at weird times here, during the summer, when it seems more likely that such a burn will get out of control. I would feel safer if they were done after the rainy season starts. It is not done during winter for air quality concerns.

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      4. Those who develop the schedule have their reasons for doing it like this. I just do not agree with their priorities. I would rather contend with a bit of smoke from a controlled burn than have them do a controlled burn at a potentially hazardous time. Really, when an uncontrolled fire happens, we have no choice about the air quality. It is all kinds of bad.

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