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Dusty miller is rated fire resistant, although the support is limited and one source calls for more research.
FireSmart BC approves dusty miller as a fire-resistant plant but flags it as needing further study. King County’s forestry program also includes Senecio cineraria among its fire-resistant non-succulent groundcovers. The University of Arizona’s extension service lists dusty miller as fire resistant, while warning that plants in this category are not fireproof and require irrigation and maintenance to resist ignition.
These recommendations come from British Columbia, western Washington, and Arizona, so the agreement extends across three regional planting guides. Their shared verdict is useful, but it should be read as landscape guidance rather than a promise that the plant cannot burn. FireSmart BC’s research flag is the clearest reason to keep that distinction in view.
Dusty miller is a perennial in the aster family. For a homeowner choosing among plants for a fire-conscious landscape, the available guidance supports using it as a fire-resistant option, provided it is kept irrigated and maintained as the Arizona guidance requires.
Form
perennial
Rated in
British Columbia; Yavapai County, Arizona; western WA
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
Evidence regions
British Columbia; Yavapai County, Arizona; western WA
Maintenance
Typed publication scope: 2 scopes across 2 cited fire sources
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.
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 AL, AZ, CA, MD, NY, OR, UT.
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.
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.
Listed as Dusty Miller — Senecio cineraria. The bulletin says fire-resistant plants tend to resist ignition when irrigated and maintained, while fire-prone plants may ignite readily and burn intensely.
