Fire-resistant landscaping uses plants and landscape features to help reduce the spread of wildfire to your home. While no plant is completely fireproof, choosing the right plants and maintaining them properly can help reduce wildfire risk. Many fire-resistant plants are also well suited to California’s climate because they are drought tolerant.

Choose Fire-Resistant Plants and Materials

• Cover bare areas with low-growing plants or noncombustible materials. Use ground cover plants, rock, gravel, or other hard surfaces to reduce exposed areas around your home. Choose plants that stay green, hold moisture, grow close to the ground, and produce less sap or resin.
• Choose more fire-resistant shrubs. Select shrubs that are less likely to ignite and spread fire. Examples include hedging roses, bush honeysuckles, currants, cotoneasters, sumacs, and crabapple shrubs.
• Choose less flammable trees. Hardwood trees, such as maple, poplar, and cherry, are generally less flammable than many conifers, such as pine and fir. Proper spacing and maintenance are also important.
• Select plants with fire-resistant characteristics. Plants with high moisture content and low levels of oils, waxes, or resins may be less likely to ignite. Examples include rockrose, ice plant, and aloe.
• Create fire-resistant areas with landscape materials. Use stone walls, patios, decks, driveways, and walkways to create breaks between vegetation and your home.

Fire-Resistant Plants

Below are examples of plants with fire-resistant traits. Many of these plants can be found at local nurseries or home improvement stores.

• French Lavender: A drought-tolerant plant that grows well in dry conditions and can add color to your defensible space landscape.
• Red Monkey Flower: An evergreen, drought-tolerant shrub with bright red flowers that can be a good choice for low-water landscapes.
• California Fuchsia: A drought-tolerant, deer-resistant plant with bright orange-red flowers that can attract pollinators.
• Sage: A low-maintenance, drought-tolerant plant that can attract pollinators when in bloom.
• California Lilac: A colorful, drought-tolerant shrub that produces clusters of small flowers when in bloom.
• Society Garlic: A low-maintenance landscape plant that grows well in dry conditions and is suitable for drought-tolerant gardens.
• Ornamental Strawberry: A low-growing ground cover plant that can help cover bare areas in a landscape.
• Yellow Ice Plant: A low-growing succulent ground cover that stores moisture and requires little water once established.
• Coreopsis: A hardy plant that grows in many soil types and can be a good addition to a low-water landscape.
• California Redbud: A drought-tolerant shrub or small tree with colorful flowers that can add seasonal interest to a landscape.