Even as a  child, I thought fireweed was one of the prettiest flowers going.  Each tiny bloom in a spire of blooms is beautiful on its own – together, they’re just gorgeous. In any kid’s wildflower bouquet, fireweed is the showpiece.

I admired the large swaths of purple along Alberta’s ditches, meadows & forest edges.

Now, living on the West Coast, they delight me along hiking trails & even shorelines.   In fact, I’ve seen them growing pretty much everywhere in BC, except in the arid Okanagan.

When I found some growing in the gravel of a parking lot, I figured they had to be tough enough to grow in our yard. 
(I ‘rescued’ a few.)

It turns out that deer enjoy the young shoots. The fireweed flourished, planted at the base of a new tree that we’d caged to protect from deer too.

Aside from the beauty factor, there are a few other reasons I grow this perennial in our garden:

• The blooms start low in the tier & gradually open further and further up as the summer progresses, providing color over a long stretch.
• Bees & butterflies love fireweed– as do hummingbirds…. honey producers, tea & jelly makers…. herbalists…

  

• Even when it’s ‘gone to seed’ it’s decorative.  The fluffy seedheads carry the seasonal interest well into the fall with a funky Halloween vibe.

  

• AND fireweed isn’t a super-thirsty plant.  Yes, it wants some water, and can even go crazy in a moist setting. But it does just fine through our long dry summers without anything more than what it gets when I’m dragging around the hose.  No fuss.

Nature is a great gardener.
What was there to admire after fires wiped out Yellowstone?
Or after Mt. St. Helens erupted?
Or even after London was bombed in WWII?
Fireweed.

Nature is beautiful &  tenacious.  Celebrate fireweed.  There will always be a place for Chamerion angustifolium in our garden.

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