Garden & Country Extension: Biology of Red Brome Grass

This year is predicted to be another potentially active fire season in certain parts of the state, such as Gila County, with conditions very similar to what Arizona saw last year. Two wet winters produced dense stands of red brome (Bromus madritensis spp. rubens) in some areas. This exotic annual grass helped fuel the Woodbury fire in June 2019 in Tonto Basin. It became widespread in the Cobre Valley area too this year. Join plant ecologist Cindy Salo to learn more about this invasive grass: where it is from, how it got to Arizona, how it behaves in the Sonoran Desert, and how we might best live with it.