Fire-wise gardening is a mix of plant selection and proper layout. Learn to protect your home at a free workshop at the Louisville Rec. Center on April 8. Image credit: Meadow Pro

Protect and beautify your home by using native plants in the landscape to increase your wildfire-defensibility.

Native plant expert and landscape designer Curtis Manning of Lafayette-based Meadow Pro will go into detail on how to use native plants with low flammability in your garden landscape, including:

• How to design your garden beds to maximize your home’s fire defensibility

• Which native plants to use and where to put them

• All participants will leave with a DIY planting template they can use at their own homes.

This workshop is designed for DIY gardeners who want to make incremental, fire-hardening improvements to their home landscapes themselves.

BONUS We will be doing random drawings for five 50-plant kits that follow the fire-wise planting template. Participants must register and be in attendance at the workshop to be eligible for the drawing. Plant pick-up will be arranged in May, at the beginning of planting season.

This program is made possible by a Colorado State Forest Service Wildfire Mitigation Outreach grant.