Guides
Are trees, shrubs and landscaping covered?
A standard HO-3 covers trees, shrubs and lawns for seven named perils, not wind or hail, up to 5% of the dwelling limit and $500 per plant. How it plays out.
Yes, but narrowly. The ISO HO-3 (form HO 00 03 05 11) covers trees, shrubs, plants and lawns on your residence premises only for seven named perils: fire or lightning, explosion, riot or civil commotion, aircraft, vehicles not owned or operated by a resident, vandalism or malicious mischief, and theft. Wind, hail, ice, snow, drought, disease, insects and flood are not on the list. The payout is capped at 5% of the Coverage A (dwelling) limit for everything combined, and at $500 for any one tree, shrub or plant.
Your insurer's form may differ, so confirm the percentage and per-plant cap in the Additional Coverages section of your own policy.
What the form covers
The coverage appears under Additional Coverages as "Trees, Shrubs and Other Plants." It is additional insurance, so paying a landscaping claim does not reduce your dwelling limit. Property grown for business purposes, such as a nursery stock or a commercial crop, is excluded.
| Cause of damage | Covered under the tree, shrub and plant coverage? | Typical example |
|---|---|---|
| Fire or lightning | Yes | A wildfire or house fire burns the yard |
| Explosion | Yes | A gas line explosion scorches hedges |
| Riot or civil commotion | Yes | Rare |
| Aircraft | Yes | A crash damages the lot |
| Vehicle not owned or operated by a resident | Yes | A delivery truck backs through the shrubs |
| Vandalism or malicious mischief | Yes | Someone cuts down a tree or kills plants with chemicals |
| Theft | Yes | A mature plant is dug up and taken |
| Windstorm or hail | No | Hurricane winds uproot trees |
| Weight of ice, snow or sleet | No | An ice storm snaps limbs |
| Your own car or mower | No | Vehicles owned or operated by a resident are carved out of the peril |
| Drought, disease, pests, frost | No | Dead shrubs after a dry summer |
| Flood or surface water | No | Washed-out beds |
How the limits work (hypothetical)
Say your dwelling limit is $400,000. Five percent is $20,000, the most the policy pays for all trees, shrubs, plants and lawns in one loss. Now say a driver who does not live with you loses control and destroys four mature trees and 25 shrubs. The trees would cost $2,000 each to replace ($8,000) and the shrubs $120 each ($3,000). The invented numbers show how the caps interact.
| Item | Replacement cost | Payable under the $500 per-plant cap |
|---|---|---|
| 4 mature trees | $8,000 | $2,000 |
| 25 shrubs | $3,000 | $3,000 |
| Total | $11,000 | $5,000 |
The $20,000 aggregate is not the problem here. The per-plant cap is. Cheap shrubs are paid in full, while mature trees come back at a fraction of their replacement cost. Your deductible also applies to the loss as a whole, so a small landscaping claim by itself will often fall below it.
A certified arborist can put a written value on a mature specimen tree, but that appraisal does not lift the cap. It can matter for other reasons, such as a claim against the driver or the driver's insurer.
Where people get surprised
Wind and hail. Landscaping damaged by a hurricane, a tornado or a hailstorm is not covered under this provision, even though the same storm may be a covered loss for your roof. Wind is a covered cause of loss for the dwelling, which is open-perils, but not for plants, which are named-perils. If a tree falls on the house, the house damage is a Coverage A claim, and the removal of the tree is a separate allowance of up to $1,000 per loss and $500 per tree. debris removal and tree removal coverage covers the tests for that allowance.
Trees you do not own or that are off the premises. The coverage applies to property on the residence premises. A street tree on city land, or a neighbor's tree, is not yours to claim. If a neighbor's tree falls on your property, your policy pays for the damage to the house or fence; see when your tree falls on a neighbor's house.
Dead or dying trees. Disease and rot are not listed perils. A tree that fails from decay on a calm day creates a harder claim, discussed in falling tree damage: who pays and when.
Hard landscaping. Fences, retaining walls, patios and similar structures are treated as other structures under Coverage B, which is open-perils, but with specific exclusions. The HO-3 excludes damage to a fence, pavement, patio or swimming pool caused by freezing, thawing, or the pressure or weight of water or ice. Read Other structures coverage (Coverage B): fences, sheds and garages for the Coverage B rules and its 10% default limit.
Wildfire: where the cap is tested
Fire is a covered peril, so a wildfire is the most likely way a homeowner collects under this provision. It is also where the per-plant cap hurts most. A fire that kills dozens of mature trees and a hundred shrubs may produce a payment that covers a small share of the cost to replant. Insurers in wildfire areas also look at the vegetation near the house when they decide whether to write or renew a policy, which is the subject of defensible space and wildfire insurance. Owners in fire country should read owning a home in a wildfire area: keeping your coverage and consider how their plantings affect insurability, not just what the policy would pay.
Renters and condo owners
The renters (HO-4) and condo (HO-6) forms carry the same seven perils and $500 per-plant cap, but the aggregate is 10% of the Coverage C personal property limit rather than 5% of Coverage A. The HO-6 applies to plants you solely own at the residence premises. If you share common landscaping with an association, the association's master policy, not yours, typically responds to it.
Getting more protection and a cleaner claim
- Ask what your insurer offers. Some insurers raise the per-plant cap or the percentage through an endorsement or an enhanced package. Find out whether wind is ever included.
- Photograph the yard every year, including mature trees and any with special value, and file the images with your home inventory. The home inventory builder helps.
- Keep nursery receipts and installation invoices for expensive plantings.
- After a loss, count and document before cleanup: species, size, number and location. Adjusters will ask.
- Budget for the gap. If landscaping is a large part of the property's value, assume wind losses are yours and the covered losses are capped.
Key takeaways
- The ISO HO-3 covers trees, shrubs, plants and lawns for seven named perils only, and wind, hail, ice, disease and drought are not among them.
- Total payout is capped at 5% of the dwelling limit, with a $500 limit on any one tree, shrub or plant, so mature trees are paid at a fraction of replacement cost.
- A tree that falls on your house is a Coverage A claim for the house, plus a small removal allowance, but the tree itself is not a landscaping loss unless one of the seven perils caused it.
- Renters and condo forms use 10% of Coverage C as the aggregate.
- Photograph your yard, ask your agent about higher limits, and expect to self-insure most wind and hail damage to landscaping.