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German iris is rated fire resistant, with favorable findings from six sources using several assessment methods.
Idaho Firewise gives German iris a fire-resistance score of 8 out of 10, within its recommended band. Colorado State University Extension also assigns it an ignitability score of 8 out of 10, meeting that source’s threshold for defensible-space zones 1 and 2. The Sun City Texas Firewise Group rates its flammability hazard low, using a definition based on how easily a plant burns at high temperatures for a prolonged period.
Other methods reach the same practical conclusion. The ACT Government’s Canberra plant selector marks German iris “Fire Retardant: Yes.” New Mexico’s Forestry Division includes it among FireWise flowers and ground covers, with affirmative codes at every printed elevation from 4,000 feet through 9,000-plus feet. A Catalonian guide prepared by the Diputació de Girona and the regional fire service rates it recommended through a method that combines fire evidence with fuel structure, maintenance, origin, invasiveness, and professional experience.
The agreement is unusually broad in method: field scores, a defined hazard rating, expert judgment, and two affirmative plant lists all favor German iris. It is still flagged as invasive in one jurisdiction, so its fire rating does not settle whether planting it is locally appropriate. Check local invasive-plant rules before choosing it.
Form
perennial
Rated in
Australian Capital Territory, Australia; Catalonia, Spain; Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Georgetown, Texas +2
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Australian Capital Territory, Australia; Catalonia, Spain; Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Georgetown, Texas; New Mexico; southern Idaho / Intermountain
Maintenance
Typed publication scope: 4 scopes across 4 cited fire sources
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.
New Mexico Forestry Division publishes this as its FireWise Plant List for New Mexico. FireApproved accounts for all 140 printed rows and publishes 95 exact same-rank owners already represented in the directory; 29 exact taxa without an existing record, 14 unresolved spellings or higher-rank matches, one compound taxon cell, and one species row whose only apparent owner has an infraspecific printed identity remain held. Every published row retains the source's Y, N, ?, or blank elevation cells. Publication scope does not erase those elevation limits or establish suitability for every New Mexico 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.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in CA, CT, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI.
Native range
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
1 ecological invasive report.
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)
Guía de pirojardinería: suitable inside or outside the 25-metre maximum-risk zone [girona-2020-iuf-25m-suitability] (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: Perennials [Sun City plant-table sections] (with its recommendation)
Canberra Plant Selector: filtered result page 6 [canberra-selector] (with its recommendation)
FireWise Plant List for New Mexico: PDF page 5, Flowers and Ground Covers, p5-r28 [nm-emnrd-firewise-table-row] (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.
Iris germanica is rated “RECOMENDADA” by the guide's qualitative IUF garden-suitability method. The method assumes species-specific care and integrates fire evidence with fuel structure, maintenance, origin, invasiveness, and expert fire-service experience.
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 Iris germanica (bearded iris) with the preserved ignitability score.
The table rates Iris, Beared — Iris germanica low for flammability hazard, defined as the ease a plant can burn at high temperatures for a prolonged time.
The live Canberra Plant Selector marks “Iris germanica” as “Fire Retardant: Yes.”
FireWise Plant List for New Mexico — New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, Forestry Division · 2003 Forestry Division PDF · original sourceCorroborationCompilationlineage: csu-nmsu-firewise
“FireWise Plant List for New Mexico”
Listed as Iris germanica (Bearded Iris) in Flowers and Ground Covers. Printed elevation cells: 4,000 ft=Y, 5,000 ft=Y, 6,000 ft=Y, 7,000 ft=Y, 8,000 ft=Y, 9,000+ ft=Y. Water need: L-M; sun/shade: S/PS; mature height: 1-3’; approximate bloom: Apr- Jun.
