Rural garden design

8 min read

When planning a rural garden, create space around the house with very little vegetation, or low-flammability vegetation. Consider using dams, tennis courts, driveways and paths to slow the spread of fire across the garden. Make sure plants and grass are well-irrigated and trees and smaller shrubs and plants are kept apart from each other. On this page, you'll find an example of a rural garden designed to increase the chance of your home surviving a bushfire.

Summary

Keep your lawn and garden well-irrigated over summer
Choose low flammability trees and plants
Do not have trees within 10 metres of the house
Use large features like dams, driveways and tennis courts to create separation between house and paddocks
Avoid using organic mulch
Don't plant flammable shrubs under windows or near doors
Locate anything flammable away from the house, including sheds, woodpiles and chemicals

Factors to consider in a rural garden

Grasses can dry rapidly over summer, causing fire to spread easily from paddocks to the garden, threatening your home. Consider the following when planning a rural garden.

Fire spread

Grassfires travel fast through paddocks that could be near your house, so it's important to create areas of separation and low vegetation between the house and the most likely location of a fire. Consider using lawns, gravel surfaces and kitchen gardens.

Windbreaks

On rural properties, well-placed plants and trees with low flammability (catch fire more slowly) might help protect houses by:

protecting the house from radiant heat
reducing direct flame contact on a house
reducing wind speed around a house and catching embers.

Locate windbreak trees more than 10 metres away from the house.

Dams

Dams can help provide separation between the house and a fire. They can also be a useful source of irrigation for the garden which should be kept well-hydrated over summer.

Flammable structures and substances

All flammable structures and substances like fertiliser, hay or chemicals become fuel for fire, increasing the chance your home catches on fire.

Move flammable structures and substances at least 10 metres away from your home, if not more.

Make sure the area around your house has very few flammable objects or vegetation such as woodpiles, sheds and vehicles.

Garden design principles

Below are the general principles to follow when designing a garden for fire:

1. Reduce vegetation in the area immediately around your home (create defendable space)

2. Remove flammable objects near your home

3. Break up vegetation with gravel, paths or grass between garden beds (create fuel breaks)

4. Carefully select, locate and maintain trees to be useful in a bushfire

Learn more about designing a garden for fire.

Model rural garden design

Key principles for rural garden design:

Use decorative paving around the house to keep plants away from windows, doors and other vulnerable parts of the building.
Locate areas of low fuel such as lawn, dams and tennis courts between the house and the most likely direction of a bushfire.
Avoid planting shrubs under trees. Instead use groundcovers with low flammability and low growing succulents under trees to provide maximum separation between ground vegetation and tree tops.
Plant trees a distance of at least 1.5 times their mature height from the house. Prune branches so they don't overhang the building.
Use lawn and gravel paths to provide separation between garden beds. This breaks up the vegetation within the garden to prevent 'fuel corridors' which lead towards your home.
Locate landscaping features with low flammability like dams, tennis courts and well-maintained lawn between the house and the most likely direction of a bushfire.

Example: Rural model garden

A sketch of the garden design from a birds eye view. Red hotspots indicate more information about each of the design elements.

Hotspots on the bird's eye view of the property highlight the fire safe design features of this property.

The same garden is seen below, looking from the north toward the house.

A computer rendered garden design showing a coastal property with dense bushland on one side. Red hotspots provide more information about the fire resistant design of the property.

Separation between house and paddocks

This design aims to reduce the spread of grassfire to the house from the surrounding paddocks and properties.

The most likely direction of the fire is from the north-west. The dam has positioned to create a barrier between the house and a fire from that direction. The front lawn, tennis court, front drive way, turning circle and kitchen garden are also creating separation between a potential fire and the house.

Ornamental fruit trees

A large planting of ornamental fruit frees including Sweet Cherry, Japanese Plums and European Plums have been planted as a windbreak and to provide protection from ember attack in the home paddock.

There is irrigated lawn beneath the fruit trees, and they will be pruned regularly to keep them apart from one another.

Shrub plantings

There are a few plantings of shrubs, far enough from the fruit trees that they don't spread fire into the tree tops. The shrubs are also planted in clumps with space between each planting, breaking them up so they don't create a continuous fuel for the fire.

Boundary windbreaks

On two sides of the home paddock are windbreak plantings of low flammable species, Lily Pilly and River Oak. These trees have a moderately dense habit and don't retain a lot of dead leaves or twigs. The grass beneath these trees is mowed low and is well-watered during summer.

Gravel

Gravel pathways have been used to provide separation between house and plantings. Pea gravel has been used for mulch in areas as a replacement for organic mulch.

Lawn

The lawn (Kikuyu grass) is tough and hard wearing, and will be well-maintained, kept short and irrigated over summer, to help create a low vegetation area around the house.

Perennials

There is a mix of perennials planted towards the rear of the house garden, chosen because they are drought-tolerant. They will be irrigated over summer to ensure they retain moisture.

Hedges

Hedges have been chosen for their low flammability. They don't contain much oil, wax or resin and they don't hold onto dead branches and leaves after pruning. There is a Dutch Box hedge at the front of the house along the pathway, and at the rear of the house is a taller Pink Pixie hedge which has fleshy leaves. Both need regular maintenance.

Front door plantings

There are two garden beds of drought-tolerant, low flammability succulents by the front door. They are colourful, low growing, have high moisture and easy to grow.

Herbaceous plantings

Around the edge of the lawn area are four clumps of herbaceous plants. They will grow up to 1 metre tall, and are drought-tolerant plants which stay green and lush over summer.

Shed, clothesline and fire wood

Flammable objects and structures are positioned well away from the house. Grapes and berry plants are planted near the shed and are kept well-watered over the summer months.