blackeyed Susan

Rudbeckia hirta hybrid (accepted: Rudbeckia hirta) · Asteraceae · all Rudbeckia records · also called Rudbeckia · Wikipedia

Fire-resistant. Recommended by the one independent primary-evidence lineage to have rated it so far (Fire-resistant Landscape Plants for the Willamette Valley), with no objection on record. Limited evidence: a single lineage — more sources may still move this verdict. This status is computed from the cited evidence by the published rule, never hand-assigned.

▲ Fire-resistant Landscape Plants for the Willamette Valley ◆ the Idaho Firewise field scores · fire-tested

Computed class: Fire-resistant (limited-evidence) — derived from the cited evidence by a published rule, never hand-assigned. Each chip above is one independent primary-evidence lineage and its direction. No plant is fireproof; condition and placement govern. Zone 0 is hardscape regardless.

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Form: perennial
Mature height: ~1 ft
Water need: moderate
Rated in: Oregon (Willamette Valley); Pacific Northwest (Oregon / Washington / Idaho); southern Idaho / Intermountain

On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions
Fire ecology context
Placement evidence: 3 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Oregon (Willamette Valley); Pacific Northwest (Oregon / Washington / Idaho); southern Idaho / Intermountain
Maintenance

Typed publication scope: 2 scopes across 2 cited fire sources

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.
Fire-resistant Landscape Plants for the Willamette Valley (EM 9103) · Official scoped edition
- 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.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: Documented in AK, AL, AR, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.
Native range
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.

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.

Landscaping for Wildfire Defensible Space in Northeastern Minnesota (Firewise) · record table-2-row-4 · 2017 · as of 2026-08-26

3–9 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Rudbeckia hirta · accepted name match.

Source location: Table 2 row 4, Hardiness Zones column.
Fire-resistant Landscape Plants for the Willamette Valley (EM 9103) · EM 9103, February 2015 · as of 2026-08-26

3–7 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Rudbeckia hirta · exact match.

Source location: Black-eyed Susan profile (PDF page 33).
Fire-Resistant Plants for Home Landscapes (PNW 590) · record perennials:Black-eyed Susan · 2023-10 · as of 2026-08-26

4–9 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Rudbeckia hirta · accepted name match.

Source location: Black-eyed Susan profile, USDA hardiness zones field.
USDA PLANTS Database — Plant Characteristics · record RUHI2 · PLANTS Help Document 2022; characteristics cache retrieved 2026-08-23 · as of 2026-08-26

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

Exact source measurement: -23°F; mapped only to its containing half-zone.

Source taxon: Rudbeckia hirta hybrid · source identifier match.

Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 39478, Temperature, Minimum (°F).

Not used for comparison: USDA PLANTS lists duration as Annual / Biennial / Perennial; its minimum-temperature definition does not apply to summer annuals.

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 40' from home [Idaho minimum planting distance] (mid-scale rating)
Fire-resistant Landscape Plants for the Willamette Valley: Black-eyed Susan profile (PDF page 33) [osu-em-9103-profile] (with its recommendation)
Fire-resistant plant profile galleries: Black-eyed Susan — Rudbeckia hirta [osu-2023-perennials-gallery] (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 7 of 10” · score 7 (idaho-0-10)

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

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

Rudbeckia hirta hybrid (Rudbeckia). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/rudbeckia-hirta-hybrid/. Last verified 2026-08-23.