Be creative with boulders, riprap, dry streambeds and sculptural inorganic elements. When designing a landscape for fire safety remember less is better. Simplify visual lines and groupings. A firesafe landscape lets plants and garden elements reveal their innate beauty by leaving space between plants and groups of plants. In firescaping, the open spaces are more important than the plants.
Lawn can be an effective firescape feature.
But extensive areas of turfgrass may not be right for everyone. Some good alternatives include clover, groundcovers, and conservation grasses that are kept green during the fire season through irrigation. Honeylocust 35-70' excellent 6500' fast growth, dappled shade Malus spp. Wood's rose 1-6' fair 10,000' hardy Sambucus spp. Elderberry 8-10' excellent all attracts birds, edible fruit Syringa spp.