United States / Grow / flowering dogwood

flowering dogwood

Cornus florida · Cornaceae · all Cornus records · Wikipedia

Is this one for your yard?

Enter your ZIP to see whether this is legal to plant in your state, and whether it survives your winter.

Yes, flowering dogwood is consistently rated fire resistant.

All six assessments favor it. The Oregon State, Washington State, and Idaho extension services and Washington’s natural-resources department include it on their fire-resistant plant lists. The USDA Forest Service and state Firewise programs place it in their most favorable Firewise category. North Carolina’s cooperative extension service gives it a Low rating on a scale running from Low to Extreme.

Ohio State also rates flowering dogwood L on its five-band flammability scale, while Virginia Tech gives it the same letter on a three-band scale. Those scales are not identical, but L falls on the recommended side of each. Agreement across agencies in the Northwest, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and eastern United States makes the conclusion stronger than a single regional recommendation.

Fire resistance does not erase the tree’s growing requirements. Ohio State describes flowering dogwood as shade tolerant but intolerant of moisture, stress, insects, and disease. Virginia Tech rates it L while warning that it is not suitable for hot, dry, exposed places or poorly drained soil. This low-water tree matures at about 30 feet and is suited to USDA zones 5a through 9b. The practical conclusion is clear: flowering dogwood is a well-supported fire-resistant choice, provided its site also meets those stated growing limits.

Form: tree
Mature height: ~30 ft
Water need: low
Rated in: Alabama; Arkansas; British Columbia; Global +15

On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions: 2 conditions stated in cited fire-evidence rows.
Fire ecology context
Placement evidence: 9 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Alabama; Arkansas; British Columbia; Global; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia; Michigan / Great Lakes; NC; Nevada / Great Basin; North Carolina; North Carolina / southeastern US; OR/WA/ID; Ohio / Midwest; Oregon; Pacific Northwest (Oregon / Washington / Idaho); Tennessee; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US; eastern WA; southern Idaho / Intermountain
Maintenance

Typed publication scope: 13 scopes across 11 cited fire sources

Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes · Official scoped edition
- AL; partial normalized coverage
  The Alabama Forestry Commission's five-page AFC-FP-04 booklet is an Alabama publication and contains 31 printed suggested or fire-prone plant occurrences. FireApproved publishes 27 exact species or genus owners and holds one infraspecific form plus two named cultivars; this historical source scope does not establish current site suitability for a particular Alabama property.
Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database · Official scoped edition
- 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.
Firewise Landscaping Plants (Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia editions) · Official scoped edition
- MD; partial normalized coverage · 2015-01-08
  Maryland Forest Service says the list contains plants that can be grown in Maryland and identifies Maryland natives. FireApproved publishes 169 exact source owners from the 180 printed rows; an unrepresentable form and duplicate-owner rows are not broadened. The list calls itself non-comprehensive and does not establish suitability for every Maryland site.
- NJ; partial normalized coverage
  New Jersey DEP publishes a state edition saying the listed plants can be grown in New Jersey and are relatively resistant to fire. Its same 180 printed taxon occurrences map to the 169 conservative owners already normalized for the template family. The list is non-comprehensive and does not establish suitability for every New Jersey site or override the Pinelands Commission's separate placement and fuel-break rules.
- WV; partial normalized coverage · 2026-08-26
  West Virginia Division of Forestry publishes a state edition saying the listed plants can be grown in West Virginia and are relatively resistant to fire. Its same 180 printed taxon occurrences map to the 169 conservative owners already normalized for the template family. The list is non-comprehensive and provides no comparative or site-specific rating.
Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · Official scoped edition
- MI; partial normalized coverage · 2007-01-01
  Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E2948 is explicitly a list of wildfire-resistant landscape plants for Michigan and includes a Michigan-native field. FireApproved publishes 221 exact GBIF owners from 226 represented source rows and holds 15 complex or non-exact rows. This dated publication scope is not a current site-suitability determination.
Fire-Resistant Landscaping in North Carolina (AG-874) · Official scoped edition
- NC; complete normalized coverage · 2025-03-26
  The complete three-table AG-874 plant list is explicitly for North Carolina and contains 202 low-, medium-, or high-flammability rows. FireApproved accounts for all source rows under its strict taxonomy and lineage rules; source scope does not establish local suitability at a particular North Carolina site.
Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) · Official scoped edition
- OH; partial normalized coverage · 2006-03-01
  Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 921 is an Ohio publication that describes Ohio fire seasons and landscape conditions and labels nativity to Ohio. FireApproved publishes 352 exact source-owning plant records from its eight rated tables. This historical publication scope does not assert current extension endorsement or that a listed plant suits every Ohio site.
Fire-Resistant Plants for Home Landscapes (PNW 590) · Official scoped edition
- ID, OR, WA; partial normalized coverage · 2023-10-01
  The October 2023 joint Pacific Northwest Extension publication explicitly names Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and publishes more than 150 plant profiles. FireApproved has normalized 155 exact plant records from the source; publication scope does not assert that every listed plant suits every site within the three states.
A Compilation of Good Plant Choices for Nevada's High Fire Hazard Areas (SP-05-16) · Official scoped edition
- NV; partial normalized coverage · 2005-01-01
  University of Nevada Cooperative Extension compiled plants suited to Nevada climate zones and reported favorably by at least two upstream firewise lists. FireApproved publishes 126 exact source owners at Nevada publication scope. The source explicitly makes no independent flammability determination, so these rows remain corroborative.
Landscaping Guidelines to Protect Your Home from Wildfire (SP685) · Official scoped edition
- TN; partial normalized coverage · 2006-10-24
  University of Tennessee Extension SP685 is Tennessee landscape guidance and publishes 78 represented plant owners. Most table rows are a carrier of Virginia Firescapes rather than an independent rating; Tennessee source scope does not change that lineage or establish site suitability.
Virginia Firescapes — Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes (430-300) · Official scoped edition
- VA; partial normalized coverage · 2009-04-15
  Virginia Cooperative Extension's publication opens with Virginia wildfire conditions, identifies its Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force, and labels plants native to Virginia. FireApproved publishes 306 exact source owners. Publication scope does not establish parcel suitability or current endorsement of this archived 2009 list.
Fire-Resistant Plants for Eastern Washington · Official scoped edition
- Eastern Washington (WA footprint); partial normalized coverage
  Washington DNR publishes the guide for Eastern Washington and says it compiles plants from other Firewise documents that are likely to thrive there. FireApproved publishes 46 exact owners only as eastern Washington context. The rows are corroborative, not empirical or statewide.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: Documented in AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA, WV.
Native range: Current cited native range in AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WV.
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness: 3 applicable cited hardiness statements overlap but have different boundaries; compare each complete source row.

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.

Native and introduced range evidence

These are exact U.S. botanical-area records from the cited range source. Native and introduced describe biogeographic relationship, not fire performance or planting approval. Doubtful and extinct rows stay visible but do not count as current presence.

Current native

32

exact source areas

Current introduced

0

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

32 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04

Alabama (AL)
Arkansas (AR)
Connecticut (CT)
District of Columbia (DC)
Delaware (DE)
Florida (FL)
Georgia (GA)
Illinois (IL)
Indiana (IN)
Kansas (KS)
Kentucky (KY)
Louisiana (LA)
Massachusetts (MA)
Maryland (MD)
Maine (ME)
Michigan (MI)
Missouri (MO)
Mississippi (MS)
North Carolina (NC)
New Hampshire (NH)
New Jersey (NJ)
New York (NY)
Ohio (OH)
Oklahoma (OK)
Pennsylvania (PA)
Rhode I. (RI)
South Carolina (SC)
Tennessee (TN)
Texas (TX)
Virginia (VA)
Vermont (VT)
West Virginia (WV)

The lossless worldwide derivative is retained once in the research corpus; object pages repeat only exact U.S. areas needed by the local lens. The JSON twin carries the same page assertions.

Plant hardiness evidence

These values describe the plant source. Your ZIP zone comes from the separate 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Whole-zone values stay whole-zone, and a single unresolved value is not treated as a tolerance range. Different source boundaries stay separate: overlapping statements are compared independently, while only ranges with no shared zone are called a conflict.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector · record cornus-florida · 2016-wayback · as of 2026-08-26

Source prints 5 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Cornus florida · exact match.

Source location: Cold Hardiness Zone field in the recovered selector record.

Not used for comparison: The recovered selector prints one Cold Hardiness Zone value but does not define it as a minimum threshold or a one-zone range.
Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · record tree:Cornus florida · New, January 2007 · as of 2026-08-26

5–8 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Cornus florida · exact match.

Source location: Table 1, tree row.
Fire-Resistant Plants for Home Landscapes (PNW 590) · record trees:Flowering dogwood · 2023-10 · as of 2026-08-26

5–9 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Cornus florida · exact match.

Source location: Flowering dogwood profile, USDA hardiness zones field.
USDA PLANTS Database — Plant Characteristics · record COFL2 · PLANTS Help Document 2022; characteristics cache retrieved 2026-08-23 · as of 2026-08-26

Minimum 4a · no upper limit documented · half zone precision · derived containing band

Exact source measurement: -28°F; mapped only to its containing half-zone.

Source taxon: Cornus florida · source identifier match.

Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 75171, Temperature, Minimum (°F).

Conditions in the fire evidence

These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.

dead material: FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method)
green: Fire-Resistant Plants for Oregon Home Landscapes evidence row

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.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector: Landscape Zone 2 — 5–10 ft from the structure; maintained lawn or fuel breaks, with easily ignited evergreens avoided [Fire Performance Plant Selector landscape zone] (with its recommendation)
Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database: plantable at 50' from home [Idaho minimum planting distance] (mid-scale rating)
FireSmart BC Plant Program: suitable for HIZ extended zone (30-100 m) [FireSmart BC Home Ignition Zone] (with its recommendation)
Fire-Resistant Plants for Oregon Home Landscapes: Southern and Western Oregon [osu-frn6-oregon-regions] (with its recommendation)
Fire-resistant plant profile galleries: Flowering dogwood — Cornus florida [osu-2023-trees-gallery] (with its recommendation)
North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: cornus-florida [nc-toolbox-flammability-facet] (with its recommendation)
Firewise Landscaping Plants: Deciduous Trees [Maryland Firewise plant-form tables] (with its recommendation)
Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes: Medium sized hardwoods [Alabama Forestry Commission booklet section] (with its recommendation)
FireWise Plants offer colorful choices for Fire Safe Gardens: Scientific name / Common name / Comments table [arkansas-firewise-table] (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.

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database — Idaho Firewise (BLM + College of Western Idaho + Idaho Botanical Garden) · original source Primary evidence Field program lineage: idaho-tree

“fire-resistance score 6 of 10” · score 6 (idaho-0-10)

Listed without a rating (5)

Corroboration (5 rows from 1 source)

FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

5 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- Primary study Varner2021: Varner, J. M., Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., & Shearman, T. M. (2021). Litter Flammability of 50 Southeastern North American Tree Species: Evidence for Mesophication Gradients Across Multiple Ecosystems. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 727042. Primary-study method: freshly fallen litter was oven-dried at 50–60°C for at least 24 hours to constant mass; each trial used a 15 g dry litter fuelbed, with five to seven trials per species.
  
  Shared row context: plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2021-1; sampling ND.
  - Shared measurement context: Combustibility measurement.
    - “flame height (cm): 76.3” · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
      
      FLAMITS record 13588.
    - “flame intensity (kW/m): 314” · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
      
      FLAMITS record 13592.
  - Shared measurement context: Sustainability measurement.
    - “flaming duration (s): 54.2” · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
      
      FLAMITS record 13589.
    - “smouldering duration (s): 188” · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
      
      FLAMITS record 13590.
  - “burnt biomass (%): 84.1” · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
    
    FLAMITS record 13591; Consumability measurement.

Guides that discuss this plant

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: USDA PLANTS · GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata · Wikipedia · ITIS

Cornus florida (Flowering dogwood). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/cornus-florida/. Last verified 2026-08-23.