Host of ABC's Gardening Australia and owner of Dicksonia Rare Plants, Mr Ryan bought his Mount Macedon garden Tugurium two years after the block had been destroyed by the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires.

He said his personal experience in the Ash Wednesday fires allowed him to provide advice based on what did and did not burn.

"The main things people can do in looking at selecting trees that have the potential to be fire retardant is to make sure the canopies are high up in the air and remove the lower limbs."

Selecting trees with reasonably smooth bark and steering clear of those like species of eucalypts that tended to have loose, rough bark is another tip from Mr Ryan.

He recommends northern hemisphere deciduous trees such as oaks, ashes and elms as other species less likely to burn that could actually act to block a fire.

"A deciduous tree doesn't have the same quality of leaves some of our natives trees and plants can. However, everything will burn in a fire; those trees just tend to take some of the 'oomph' out of the blaze."

Mr Ryan said residents still had to enjoy the environment they lived in and be careful not to take clearing rules too literally.

"The issue is there is no point in us all living in a cleared desert to fire-proof our properties. We still have to live in the environment and have trees and plants around us.

"By all means clean up, but there are alternatives that could be useful. We can adapt our living environment by planting natives and other trees with reasonably smooth trunks."