fireweed {hello, Alaska}

 

Fireweed:  a perennial wildflower in the willlowherb family, native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere whose stems grow from to 4-6 feet high. Fireweed grows throughout the United States, save for the Southern states. It can be found in all Canadian provinces, along with other similar climates around the globe.

 

Oh, fireweed. The gorgeous flower that's not really a weed at all. Fireweed gets its name from its amazing ability to recolonize an area following a wildfire. Fireweed is known in other parts of the world as great willow-herb and rosebay willowherb.

 

It's a hardy plant that creates beautiful blankets of pinkish-purple covering open fields, edges of rivers and streams, and along the edges of forests. It's everywhere in Alaska. We enjoy fireweed right here on our property. It lines our lawn with an amazing shock of color all summer long.

 

Here's an article you may enjoy complete with recipes to make all sorts of goodies from the Fireweed plant, a very popular thing to do in Alaska.

 

Do you have fireweed where you live?

 

 

 

This is day 5 in a 31-day series on the state of Alaska. Just joining us? Head to the home page for hello, Alaska to see the list of archived posts by clicking here. Are you interested in checking out the 31-day series other bloggers are writing in the month of October? Head over here.