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The Best Fire-Retardant Plants for Your Home Landscape

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Help Save Your Home From Brush Fire

As an electronic graphics operator working on live news in the Los Angeles market for more than a decade, I can tell you that the most heartbreaking events to cover are brush fires. Yet, on occasion there are miraculous accounts of homes saved in the midst of total devastation. Sometimes this is due to pure luck ... winds shift or unexpected rain begins to fall. But more often than not, these homes are saved by design. During major fire news coverage, firefighters will always take an opportunity to praise homeowners who are aggressive in maintaining a defensible space around their homes and using landscaping as part of their overall fire prevention strategy. In the face of fire—when minutes count—the right plant choices can make the difference between saving or losing your home. While fire-retardant plants can't prevent or stop flames, their stems and foliage won't contribute a significant amount of fuel to an existing fire. Fire-retardant plants are beautiful too, as you'll see in the photographs below.

The stunning images shown below are used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr. There's a link below each one if you'd like to leave a comment for the photographer and browse additional samples of their work.

Creative Commons License

Succulent

Image used under Creative Commons from aikidomai (Flickr)

Fire-Retardant Plants

Listed by Common Name

There are no fireproof plants, but the ones listed here are known to be fire resistant or fire retardant. These plants can be damaged or killed by flames, but their foliage and stems don't contribute significantly to the fuel or intensity of a fire.

Arizona Sycamore (Deciduous Tree)

Autumn Sage (Evergreen Shrub)

Blue Fescue (Ornamental Grass)

Blue Oat Grass (Ornamental Grass)

California Fuchsia (Perennial)

Century Plant (Succulent)

Deer Grass (Ornamental Grass)

Dwarf Coyote Bush (Evergreen Shrub)

European Olive (Evergreen Tree)

Fortnight Lily (Evergreen Perennial)

French Lavender (Evergreen Shrub)

Hairy Yerba Santa (Shrub)

Heavenly Bamboo (Evergreen Shrub)

Ice Plant (Succulent)

Iris (Rhizome)

Jade Plant (Succulent)

Japanese Mock Orange (Evergreen Shrub)

Kangaroo Paw (Evergreen Perennial)

Manzanita (Evergreen Shrub)

Mexican Blue Palm (Palm)

Mexican Palo Verde, Jerusalem Thorn (Small Tree)

Mediterranean Saltbush

Monkey Flower (Perennial)

Poverty Weed (Perennial)

Purple Sage (Evergreen Shrub)

Rockrose (Evergreen Shrub)

Society Garlic (Perennial)

Spanish Lavender (Evergreen Shrub)

Statice or Sea Lavender (Perennial)

Sweet William (Perennial)

Toyon, Christmas Berry (Evergreen Shrub or Small Tree)

Valley Oak (Deciduous Tree)

Verbena (Perennial)

Wooly Blue Curls (Evergreen Shrub)

Yucca, Our Lord's Candle (Evergreen Perennial)

Kangaroo Paw

Evergreen Perennial

Image used under Creative Commons from miheco (Flickr)

Protect Your Home from Brush Fires

Create a Defensible Space

Clear away dry grass, brush, and dead leaves within 30 feet from your home.
Focus on low-growing, fire-retardant ornamental plants in your landscape design.
Regularly prune all plants to remove dead wood, excess stems, and branches.
Trees and large shrubs should be placed at least 10 feet apart from each other, and away from your home. Trees should never overhang your roof.
For trees 18-feet tall or more, prune lower branches 6 feet off the ground to help prevent ground fires from spreading into treetops.
Firewood and scrap woodpiles should be stacked at least 30 feet from any structures, especially your home. Clear away flammable vegetation located within 10 feet of woodpiles.
Butane and propane tanks should be kept at least 30 feet from any structures. Clear away flammable vegetation located within 10 feet of butane or propane tanks.
Water just enough to keep plants healthy. Too much promotes excess plant growth and creates more potential fire fuel, while too little lowers the moisture content and causes plants to burn more readily.
Most importantly, the 30-foot defensible space must be maintained regularly in order to be effective.
Note: In extremely hazardous areas, the California Public Resources Code, Section 4291, requires clearance of flammable vegetation for a minimum distance of 30 to 100 feet from structures.

Verbena

Perennial

Image used under Creative Commons from photofarmer (Flickr)

Shop for Verbena Seeds

Choose from a Variety of Verbena Perennials

French Lavender

Evergreen Shrub

Image used under Creative Commons from Joccay (Flickr)

Fire Ecology

A Few Facts Courtesy of Wikipedia

Fire ecology is concerned with the processes linking fire behavior and ecological effect. Campaigns such as "Smokey Bear" in the USA have molded public opinion to believe that wildfires are always harmful to nature. This view is based on the outdated belief that ecosystems progress toward an equilibrium and that disturbance (such as fire) disrupts the harmony of nature. More recent ecological research has shown, however, that fire is an integral component to the function and biodiversity of many communities, and that the organisms within those communities have adapted to withstand and even exploit it. Fire suppression, in combination with other human-caused environmental changes, has resulted in unforeseen changes to ecosystem dynamics and species composition and has backfired to create some of the largest, most intense wildfires yet. Land managers are faced with tough questions about where it is appropriate to restore a fire regime and how to do it. These questions are crucial today as we see the consequences of years of fire suppression and the continued expansion of people into fire-adapted ecosystems.

Mexican Palo Verde

Small Tree

Image used under Creative Commons from kretyen (Flickr)

Firefighting Fundamentals

Ice Plant

Succulent

Image used under Creative Commons from terren in Virginia (Flickr)

Firescaping Resources

Heavenly Bamboo

Evergreen Shrub

Image used under Creative Commons from RichMurphy (Flickr)

Stories from the Front Lines

Society Garlic

Perennial

Image used under Creative Commons from mojo621 (Flickr)

Fighting Fire ... Up Close & Personal

Manzanita

Evergreen Shrub

Image used under Creative Commons from kretyen (Flickr)

Rescue Me

Complete Seasons on DVD

Sweet William

Perennial

Image used under Creative Commons from sciondriver (Flickr)

Shop for Sweet William Seeds

Grow Your Own Sweet William Perennials

Toyon, Christmas Berry

Evergreen Shrub or Small Tree

Image used under Creative Commons from kevincole (Flickr)

Fire Retardant Plants in the News

The Latest New Headlines About Fire Retardant Plants

Plant of the Month: Aptenia Cordifolia – Ice Plant/Rock Rose: It is equally happy in full sun or part shade. It looks good planted under trees, and its effectiveness as a fire retardant should not be overlooked. For a wide range of special plants visit the areas best nursery, The Palm Centre at Köyce?iz.
Award honors green landscapes in La Cañada: Each month the club will issue a Green Award to residents crafting lovely landscapes using drought-tolerant plants that require less water and are a better match for the local climate, said President Linda Fults. ?As much as we love lawns and the ...
Bringing the oak savanna back: Natural prairie fires and fires controlled by Native American tribes cleared competing undergrowth and trees, leaving only the fire-resistant oaks and prairie grasses in a beautifully open and park-like landscape. As a transition between prairie and ...
Street Challenge helps Cape Town get a makeover: ... convert abandoned plots in the Cape Town City Bowl into small-scale urban farms, the Let Us Grow project has all the correct intentions: create jobs, generate microeconomies, educate school children, build the community and beautify the landscape.

Iris

Rhizome

Image used under Creative Commons from Tie Guy II (Flickr)

Shop for Iris Bulbs

Grow a Variety of Iris Rhizomes in Your Garden

Yucca, Our Lord's Candle

Evergreen Perennial

Image used under Creative Commons from mauroguanandi (Flickr)

Thanks For Visiting

Did You Learn Something New About Protecting Your Home?

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Reply

SereneSea Dec 10, 2011 @ 6:08 am | delete

I learnt a new thing today and it was a pleasure to know that there are fire retardant plants in the planet's friendly neighbourhood. It would have been really good to save our precious forests from natural fires though.

Reply

Frankster Sep 10, 2011 @ 6:54 pm | delete

Yes I did learn something new. Our new home is among the large redwood trees in Fort Bragg, CA. Our home is also made of redwood. As a tree, it is one of safest but I was wondering about all the other plants. I love succulents so I was glad to see them in here. Thanks for sharing this vital info. Bear hugs, Frankie

Reply

jvsper63 Apr 22, 2011 @ 6:54 am | delete

Yes i did, i didn't know they had fire retardant plant's. Very nicely done:)

Reply

sdtechteacher Apr 9, 2011 @ 6:49 pm | delete

It's just as easy to pick a fire-resistant plant than one that isn't, and you've listed some great choices. Thanks!