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Blue leadwood is rated fire resistant, though its numerical support comes from a limited base of field-trial evidence.
Four sources point the same way. Idaho Firewise gives blue leadwood a fire-resistance score of 8 out of 10, within the recommended band. Colorado State University Extension preserves an 8 out of 10 ignitability score and sets 8 as the minimum for plants used in defensible-space zones 1 and 2. Colorado credits the Idaho materials as the basis for its scoring, so those matching numbers should not be mistaken for two separate trials.
The other assessments broaden the agreement. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension includes Ceratostigma plumbaginoides among fire-resistant plants when irrigated and maintained, while warning that resistant plants are not fireproof. The Sun City Texas Firewise Group rates its flammability hazard low, meaning it is not considered likely to burn easily at high temperatures for a prolonged period.
Blue leadwood is a groundcover in the Plumbaginaceae family. Its ratings consistently favor fire resistance, but the practical promise is resistance to ignition and prolonged burning under the stated care conditions, not immunity from fire.
Form
groundcover
Rated in
Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Georgetown, Texas; Yavapai County, Arizona; southern Idaho / Intermountain
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Colorado State University Extension and the Colorado State Forest Service publish Fact Sheet 6.305 for Colorado's WUI and varied ecosystems. FireApproved exposes all 114 exact source owners at Colorado publication scope while retaining score, elevation, water, and Idaho-carrier lineage. Publication scope is not suitability for every Colorado site or zone.
Southern Idaho (ID footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2013-11-08
The official database labels itself "For Southern Idaho" and describes Idaho residents at the urban-rangeland interface. FireApproved publishes 419 existing plant owners that cite its scored rows. This bounded Southern Idaho scope is regional context, not statewide coverage or a conclusion that the score transfers unchanged to every Idaho site.
Sun City Texas, Georgetown (TX footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2015-01-14
The guide is authored for the Sun City Texas community in Georgetown. FireApproved publishes 142 exact owners only as community-level context. It is an archived HOA exhibit with unknown rating lineage, not a current statewide Texas source or an independent Tier 1 determination.
Yavapai County (AZ footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2025-03-14
University of Arizona Cooperative Extension authors Bulletin 34 for Yavapai County. FireApproved publishes 198 exact source owners from its resistant and prone tables and keeps the county boundary visible. County publication scope is regional Arizona context, never statewide scope.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in DC, ID, MO.
Native range
Introduced / established
1 sourced range or established record. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
Broader regional context
Federal context
How to read this page
The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.
Where its sources say to plant it
Placement rules below use each source's own distances or named zones, tied to its rating.
They are not interchangeable with the directory's current Zone 0 guidance.
Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database: plantable at 30' from home [Idaho minimum planting distance] (with its recommendation)
Ignition-Resistant Landscape Plants: suitable for defensible-space zones 1-2 (score 8+) [CSU defensible-space zone] (with its recommendation)
Firewise Plant Guide: Groundcover [Sun City plant-table sections] (with its recommendation)
The evidence
Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself
(a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or
republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.
“fire-resistance score 8 of 10”
· score 8 (idaho-0-10)
Ignition-Resistant Landscape Plants (Fact Sheet 6.305) — Colorado State University Extension / Colorado State Forest Service (Wildfire Mitigation Series) · 2025 · original sourcePrimary evidenceField programlineage: idaho-tree resolves to Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database
“ignitability score 8 of 10”
· score 8 (idaho-0-10)
CSU 6.305 table lists Ceratostigma plumbaginoides (plumbago) with the preserved ignitability score.
Listed as Plumbago — Ceratostigma plumbaginoides. The bulletin says fire-resistant plants tend to resist ignition when irrigated and maintained, while fire-prone plants may ignite readily and burn intensely.
The table rates Leadwort Plumbago — Ceratostigma plumbaginoides low for flammability hazard, defined as the ease a plant can burn at high temperatures for a prolonged time.
