CFS Fire-wise Garden

This display garden is set up as a typical Australian front garden and highlights features including a stonewall, stone garden edging, and a selection of succulent plants. Plants are pruned to demonstrate techniques that may help slow down a fire and reduce potential damage to a house. 

- Demonstrating structural and floristic features which make gardens fire-resistant and less likely to burn.   

- A garden that can provide species information to anyone concerned about the risk of fire and demonstrates practical ideas about minimising the risk to their own homes. 

The CFS Fire-wise Garden was created in conjunction with the Country Fire Service (CFS) and was opened in 2008. The garden includes:

• Structural features such as a radiant heat barrier to the northern side of the house and a three-metre gap between the garden and the house (fire break)

• Use of fire-resistant plants

• The use of standard Grevillea demonstrates a ‘vertical’ fire break. They are free of foliage for the first metre, making it difficult for a grassfire to spread into the plant. 

• The use of native grass species that requires little water but are green in summer (C4)

• The use of plants that recover well even after a fire has come through

• The use of succulent plants for hedging to slow down the speed of fire