Enter your ZIP to see whether this is legal to plant in your state, and whether it survives your winter.
Barren strawberry is rated fire resistant, supported by an Oregon recommendation and scores of 8 out of 10 in Idaho and Colorado.
Idaho Firewise ties its 0-to-10 fire-resistance scale to minimum planting distances, with higher scores indicating greater resistance. Barren strawberry scored 8 out of 10 in its field trials. The published result supports a favorable view without assigning the specific planting distance reserved for a score of 10.
Oregon State University Extension includes Waldsteinia species among fire-resistant plants suited to Willamette Valley growing conditions. Its profile identifies barren strawberry as a perennial and prints a hardiness range of USDA zones 4 through 8; the published hardiness information is also given more precisely as zones 4a to 8b.
Colorado State University Extension and the Colorado State Forest Service give barren strawberry an ignitability score of 8 out of 10. That meets their stated threshold for use in defensible-space zones 1 and 2. Their table credits Idaho materials as the basis for its scoring, so the matching scores are connected rather than separate confirmation. Even with that link, the field-trial score and Oregon’s regional recommendation support the same conclusion: this Rosaceae groundcover is a fire-resistant choice.
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.
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 ID.
Native range
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
Documented range 4–8.
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)
Fire-resistant Landscape Plants for the Willamette Valley: Barren Strawberry profile (PDF page 29) [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)
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.
“fire-resistant plants that thrive in Willamette Valley growing conditions”
The perennials profile lists Waldsteinia spp. as Barren Strawberry. The profile prints USDA Hardiness Zone: 4–8.
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 Waldsteinia spp. (Barren strawberry) with the preserved ignitability score.
