Wildfire defense: Protecting this Eichler home in Marin

“Gardens are never done, and there are always things to do.”

That’s what Terry Bremer told me when she shared her garden’s transformation in a Fine Living column two years ago.

Bremer, who grew up in a New York apartment without a garden, eventually made her way to San Francisco, where she met and married her husband, David, and did her best in a foggy garden.

When the couple eventually moved to one of the coveted Lucas Valley Eichler homes with a courtyard, on a large corner lot on a quiet cul-de-sac, they knew the rather bare landscaping would need a major overhaul.

Beyond the existing large Chinese elm tree that anchored the courtyard, a nearby flowering plum and a flagstone area, “nothing else was worth saving,” Bremer said at the time.

That was true for the backyard and two side yards, too.

All that could wait, however. Their priority was to renovate the interior.

That is, until the rains came and their beloved dog, Tyler, realized his new digging talent. They realized they would have to pivot quickly and turn their attention to the outdoors first.

That decision launched the couple into a years-long garden project which saw their attention-deprived grounds transformed into a serene oasis of thoughtfully selected trees, plants that thrive in the shade and accents of seasonal color.

Over the years, they hadn’t given much thought to the dozen or so junipers that grew on their property on the other side of their fence.

“We knew one day the junipers would have to go, but other projects took precedence,” she said.

That changed last August when the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority, a Marin County agency created in 2020 to fund wildfire prevention and preparedness efforts, performed a property inspection and presented the Bremers with a wildfire risk notice.

It identified two fire risk issues related to their landscaping, but the main concern was the line of 10 to 12 junipers along the fence.

“These were at least 50 years old and very large with arms jutting out every which way,” she said.

Concerned about fire risk and knowing that junipers are highly flammable, the couple got to work right away.

“We knew it would be a big job, and this wildfire situation just gave us the motivation to finally send the junipers to juniper heaven,” she said. “They had a good long life. Time to go.”

The couple hired Bartlett Tree Experts to remove all the junipers and grind down the stumps.

Then, their landscaper, Silvestre Zavala, removed all the needle litter left behind on the ground by the now-removed junipers.

Once that was done, Bremer accompanied Zavala to Devil Mountain Wholesale Nursery in Petaluma, where they considered appropriate plants that could replace the junipers.

“I first thought we would get California crape myrtle, but I was advised that deer find that plant especially delicious, so we moved on until I noticed the Icee Blue Podocarpus, which immediately caught my eye,” she said.

She chose the slow-growing, pyramidal-shaped evergreen conifer suitable for Marin’s USDA planting zone 9.

“They have a lovely bluish-green cast, and are great in shade, which we have lots of,” she said.

Soon, 20 15-gallon plants were headed down to their new home in Marin.

“I then decided that we would continue a two-level rock border that already existed at the slope beyond the juniper area,” she said.

Not so fast, though.

After the junipers had been removed, they noticed “three seriously rotted fence posts, along with a number of scraggly plants that had been hiding behind the junipers,” she said. “So began the domino effect!”

Their contractor, Garris Chuba, arrived to replace the fence posts.

“It was not an easy or quick task,” she said. “He managed to remove the old posts from the concrete and put in his unique system of setting brackets in concrete and placing the posts into the brackets.”

Then it was time for Silvestre to plant the podocarpus and build the rock border.

A few more plants were purchased to fill in the area once hidden by the first juniper, and the project was declared complete.

“All we had to do was wait for our neighbors to comment on how beautiful it all looks,” she said. (They did!) “Now that the work is done, we are thrilled with how beautiful the area looks.”

She admits it was a little stressful in the beginning, but well worth it in the end.

“This current project was huge for us,” she said. “I think the area is over 75 feet all told, and I knew it would take a lot of planning regarding all the necessary steps from beginning to the finished product. But once we made the absolute decision to remove the junipers, it took on a life of its own, with huge help from Silvestre and Garris, not to mention Bartlett Tree Experts. We had the best help.”

She encourages other Marin residents with junipers growing in their gardens to consider removing any “they have near their fence or house and replacing them to reduce fire risk,” she said. “Every small effort helps.”

A suggested list from Fire Safe Marin of fire-smart plants can be found online.

Show off

If you have a beautiful or interesting Marin garden or a newly designed Marin home, I’d love to know about it.

Please send an email describing either one (or both), what you love most about it, and a photograph or two. I will post the best ones in upcoming columns. Your name will be published and you must be over 18 years old and a Marin resident.

PJ Bremier writes on home, garden, design and entertaining topics every Saturday. She may be contacted at P.O. Box 412, Kentfield 94914, or at pj@pjbremier.com.