Enter your ZIP to see whether this is legal to plant in your state, and whether it survives your winter.
Yes, lupine is consistently rated fire resistant by six western plant programs.
Idaho Firewise gives lupine an 8 of 10 from field trials. That falls within the recommended range of 8 to 10 on its scale, which connects higher scores with shorter minimum planting distances. OSU, WSU, and University of Idaho Extension also list lupine as fire resistant and place it in USDA zones 4a through 6b.
Other institutions reach the same verdict for their respective regions. Montana State University Extension lists lupine among fire-resistant plants adapted to Montana. Fire Safe Marin lists lupine as a fire-resistant plant common to Marin County. Homeowners still need to irrigate, remove dead material, and attend to placement and spacing under its guidance. The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension compilation includes lupine because at least two of its named western sources rated it favorably.
Utah State University Extension lists Lupinus species and hybrids as firewise when properly used and maintained. It also flags the row as potentially weedy or legally restricted, a separate concern that does not change its firewise rating. Taken together, the findings support lupine as a fire-resistant perennial, provided that homeowners follow the placement and maintenance conditions attached to the relevant regional guidance.
Form
perennial
Rated in
Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Lake Tahoe Basin, Nevada and California; Marin County, California; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia +11
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Lake Tahoe Basin, Nevada and California; Marin County, California; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia; Michigan / Great Lakes; Montana / Northern Rockies; Nevada / Great Basin; OR/WA/ID; Oregon; Oregon (Willamette Valley); Pacific Northwest (Oregon / Washington / Idaho); Texas; Utah / Intermountain West; southern Idaho / Intermountain; western WA
Maintenance
Typed publication scope: 15 scopes across 13 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.
Marin County (CA footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2019-01-01
The publication is explicitly limited to plants common to Marin County. FireApproved publishes 104 exact owners as Marin regional context while retaining its placement, spacing, irrigation, and maintenance boundary. It is not statewide California guidance or parcel suitability.
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.
King County's current wildfire page links this list for the Puget Sound Basin. FireApproved publishes 82 exact source owners as basin context, not statewide Washington guidance or a site-specific recommendation.
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.
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.
The April 2022 MontGuide explicitly presents fire-resistant species adapted to Montana. FireApproved publishes 92 exact plant records from the source while retaining excluded genus, family, and unresolved rows; the guide itself says not every listed species grows in every part of the state.
Nevada Division of Forestry and University of Nevada Cooperative Extension publish Bulletin 06-01 for the Lake Tahoe Basin and vicinity. FireApproved publishes 83 exact rated owners as basin context across Nevada and California. Rough estimates are not statewide or site ratings.
Willamette Valley (OR footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2015-02-01
OSU Extension says EM 9103 highlights fire-resistant plants that thrive under Willamette Valley growing conditions. FireApproved publishes 172 exact owners only as valley context. The guide shares the PNW 590 lineage and is not a second independent vote or statewide site clearance.
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.
Texas A&M Forest Service says the guide's landscape elements apply across Texas and at all scales. FireApproved publishes ten exact genus owners from its placement-band examples and holds Primrose and Bluebells rather than guessing taxa. The examples are not a complete Texas plant palette.
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.
Utah State University Extension states that this fact sheet selects examples for Utah landscapes and that they require proper placement and maintenance. FireApproved publishes 83 exact source owners at Utah publication scope. The table is not a site-specific planting clearance.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in ID, OR, WA.
Native range
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
Documented range 4–6.
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.
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.
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)
Firewise Landscaping in Texas: The Right Plant for the Ri…: 10 feet to 30 feet [tamfs-defensible-space] (with its recommendation)
Fire-Resistant Plants for Oregon Home Landscapes: Oregon [osu-frn6-oregon-regions] (with its recommendation)
Fire-resistant Landscape Plants for the Willamette Valley: Lupine profile (PDF page 64) [osu-em-9103-profile] (with its recommendation)
Ignition-Resistant Landscape Plants: suitable for defensible-space zones 1-2 (score 8+) [CSU defensible-space zone] (with its recommendation)
Home Landscaping Guide for Lake Tahoe and Vicinity: Fire Hazard column: low [tahoe-guide-2006] (with its recommendation)
Firewise Landscaping Plants: Herbaceous Annuals and Perennials [Maryland Firewise plant-form tables] (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.
Source says the plant can be firewise when properly used and maintained. The source marks this row as potentially weedy or legally restricted. Source table name: Lupinus species & hybrids.
“Fire-Resistant Plant Materials for Oregon”
· condition: green
Lupinus species (Lupine) is listed under “Perennials 18 inches or taller”. The guide says most listed plants require some irrigation during Oregon's dry summer months and must be maintained in a healthy condition.
“Choose the right perennial plants for your fire-resistant landscape”
· original source
The Lupine profile prints Lupinus varieties. The gallery points to PNW 590 for complete details.
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 Lupinus spp. (lupine) with the preserved ignitability score.
Table 1's Fire Hazard column prints “low” for this taxon. The guide calls the rating a rough estimate of potential flammability, not a result of scientific trials. Its footnote says plants that turn brown often become high fire hazards and tells readers to mow grasses and forbs when they begin to turn brown.
Listed as Lupinus spp. (Lupine). The source says listed species exhibit stronger resistance to ignition by wildfires. Source comments: Plants are poisonous. Lupinus perennis is native, other varieties are cultivated. Prefers full sun and dry soil
