[Link].

au

The location and arrangement of vegetation within a

garden has a greater impact on how a bushfire will spread
RURAL
GARDEN
than the flammability of individual plants.
Use these four principles when designing your garden to
reduce the risk of the garden contributing to house loss
in a bushfire.

CREATE DEFENDABLE SPACE

LANDSCAPING FOR BUSHFIRE:
REMOVE FLAMMABLE OBJECTS GARDEN DESIGN & PLANT SELECTION
FROM AROUND THE HOUSE

BREAK UP FUEL CONTINUITY

CAREFULLY SELECT,
LOCATE AND MAINTAIN TREES

Remember, a holistic approach to bushfire preparation is

critical. While garden design and maintenance can improve
the chances of a house surviving a bushfire, do not rely on
these in isolation. In high risk areas, on Severe, Extreme
and Code Red days leaving early is always the safest option.

For more detail and to use CFA’s online

Plant Selection Key visit [Link]/plants
or call the Victorian Bushfire Information Line
on 1800 240 667
 MOST LIKELY
WINDBREAK FIRE DIRECTION
Casuarina cunninghamiana (River Oak)

PADDOCK

PADDOCK
2
TENNIS
COURT

HEDGE
Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’ (Dutch Box)
3

HERBACEOUS PLANTINGS
Festuca glauca (Blue Fescue)
Dianella caerulea (Paroo Lily)
Lomandra longifolia (Spiny-headed Mat Rush)
Phormium ‘Apple Green’ (New Zealand Flax)
HEDGE Strelitzia reginae (Bird of Paradise)
Escallonia ‘Pink Pixie’ 5
GRAVEL DRIVE
PERENNIAL DISPLAY SUCCULENTS
Achillea millefolium cv. (Yarrow) Aeonium arboreum (Tree Aeonium)
Anthemis montana 1 Agave attenuata (Swans Neck Agave)
Beschorneria yuccoides (Mexican Lily) Cotyledon orbiculata (Pigs Ears)
Festuca glauca (Blue Fescue) Echeveria cvs. (Hen and Chickens)

ROAD
Dahlia ‘Le Coco’ Tradescantia pallida (Purple Heart)
Euphorbia ‘Compton Ash’ Kleinia mandraliscae (Blue Chalk Sticks)
Salvia nemorosa SHED HOUSE Sedum pachyphyllum (Jelly Beans)
Tulbaghia violacea (Society Garlic) Sedum ‘Matrona’

WINDBREAK
Acmena smithii (Lily Pilly) ORCHARD
Prunus avium (Sweet Cherry)

4
ORCHARD
Prunus salicina (Japanese Plum)

PADDOCK

1 2 3 4 5
Use decorative paving around Locate areas of low fuel such as Avoid planting shrubs under trees. Plant trees a distance of at least Use gravel paths and lawn to
the house to keep plants away lawn, dams and tennis courts Instead use groundcovers with 1.5 times their mature height provide separation between garden
0m 2 4 6 8 10m
from windows, doors and other between the house and the most low flammability and low-growing from the house. They must not beds. This breaks up the continuity
vulnerable parts of the building. likely direction of a bushfire. succulents under trees to provide overhang the building. of vegetation in the garden to
maximum separation between prevent fuel corridors.
fuel at the ground level and the
tree canopy.