| Description | A beautiful pink flowering wildflower. One of the first plants to appear after an area has been burned. |
|---|---|
| Plant Type | All Plants, Wild Flowers |
| Hardiness Zone | Cold hardy to at least zone #4 |
| Sunlight | full |
| Moisture | average to moist |
| Soil & Site | loam, sandy |
| Flowers | The 1" pink flowers have 4 rounded petals found on spikes 6-12 inches long. Blooms in July-August. |
| Fruit | The fluffy seeds are found in 1-3 inch long pods. |
| Leaves | Simple, alternate, finely toothed, narrow willow-like leaves. |
| Dimensions | 2-6 feet tall |
| Propagation | seeds |
| Misc Facts | One of the first native plants to invade a burned out area, hence the name "Fireweed". Epilobium: from 2 Greek words epi, "upon," and lobos, "a pod or capsule," as the flower and capsule appear together, the corolla being borne on the end of the ovary angustifolium: Latin for "narrow leaf" (#100), The flowers are nectar producers for insects and Butterflies. |
| Author's Notes | In the early 1980's I was at Mount St. Helen's and the "Fireweed" was one the first flowering plants to appear after the eruption. It was quite a site to see the beauty of the pink spike flowers growing in the dominant gray color of the volcanic ash. This once again proved to me that Mother Nature will destroy but she will also put things back together if given the chance. |
| Notes & Reference | #41-Wildflowers of Wisconsin (Stan Tekiela), #100-Wildflowers of Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest (Merel Black and Emmet Judziewicz), #224-Prairie Nursery web site (www.prairienursery.com) |
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