Throw Caution to the Wind With Yard Shielded From Santa Anas

It never fails: About the time you think that the tornado/flood/hurricane versus earthquake trade-off you entered into when you decided to live in Southern California was a pretty terrific idea, along come the Santa Ana winds.

Raymond Chandler has written all about the winds making nerve endings spark and turning demure housewives into hatchet murderers, but he never said a word about them spoiling your back-yard barbecue.

Yes, barbecue. In this corner of America there are those who have a Pavlovian reaction to warm weather of any sort and who will fire up the Weber in the middle of January if they get even a whiff of wind stealing in from the desert.

The only problem is that it’s almost never a mere whiff. In certain coastal plains and inland valleys and canyons, those winds can really howl. The pool fills up with dirt; the burgers turn crunchy, and you spend an extra half hour washing the grit out of your hair.

However, if you’re an intrepid back-yard naturalist who lives in a wind corridor, you have options. And nature and physics are on your side.

There are two basic ways to keep unwanted wind out of your yard: artificial and natural. Both, depending on the contour and position of your yard, work.

However, said Kathy Nelson, owner of Landscape Arts, a landscape architecture firm in Yorba Linda, you’ll likely run into yet another of those pesky trade-offs. If you’ve got a nice view in the direction from which the wind comes, you have to choose.

Let’s say your view is like a Martian landscape, and you’d like to be rid of it. Let’s also assume that your wind problem is less than severe. Land contouring may be your answer. Adding little hillocks, hollows and berms to your yard can lessen the severity of the wind, as can such additions as recessed decking, walls and clear paneling (if you really do like the Martian view).

The most satisfying way of battling wind, however, may be through the use of natural barriers: bushes, shrubs and trees. These will serve well but, Nelson said, they require tending.

Among the most effective natural wind breaks, Nelson said, are those that are planted in layers of three, in ascending size. The idea, she said, is to form a kind of “scoop” that will not only block the wind, but re-direct it up and over your yard.

It works like this: The smallest plants, lower-growing shrubs such as oleanders, should be planted farthest to windward. Behind them comes a middle layer of taller evergreens and finally an inside layer of trees at least 20 feet tall, such as California peppers.

There is a formula that applies to such an arrangement: Ten feet of horizontal wind protection is afforded by every foot of vertical plant height. A wind break that is 20 feet high will block the wind horizontally for 200 feet.

A large variety of plants work well as wind breaks but, Nelson said, any plants that are brittle, thin or inflexible should be avoided. The best are those that are sturdy, dense and will bend--not break--in the wind.

And, she added, they must be planted close together, with no gaps that can form “tunnels,” which focus and magnify the force of the wind.

The benefits of a botanical wind break don’t come without a bit of labor, however. (You were waiting for this part, right?) The trees taking the brunt of the windy attack must be pruned properly. An “overburdened” tree--a tree thick with more branches and leaves than is necessary for its looks and function--may break or topple in a strong wind.

Nelson said that every year she sees pruning jobs on trees that she called “atrocities.” Many of the bad jobs involve a simple topping of the tree, a cutting off of a part of the main trunk. Trees should not be shortened that way, but rather thinned from the center by selecting and cutting smaller branches rather than the main branches that support the structure of the tree.

Do all this and barbecue blissfully during the nastiest Santa Anas. Go ahead. Take a chance and serve salad in a big, open bowl. Uncover the potato salad and the cole slaw. Serve lemonade out of a punch bowl. Turn off the filter in the swimming pool just for fun. Fling open the windows and the sliding glass door. Live on the edge.

And if you miss the view, just remember that it could be worse. You could be in Florida, where the only really effective wind break is an old fallout shelter.