Prime Fireweed time

12 July 2012
8:48 PM

Sunset at	12:09 AM	in direction	335°	North-northwest
Sunrise at	3:44 AM	in direction	25°	North-northeast

Civil Twilight all day

Field of Fireweed with a stand of lighter hued flowers

The fireweed has been especially beautiful this week.  Flowers form a bud cone at the top of a single stalk.  They start blooming near the bottom and progress to the top.  As the lower flowers turn to seed, they become cottony.  I just read today that Alaskans and Canadians say it's time to leave when the fireweed turns to cotton because the snow will fall in about six weeks.  My analytical mind asks, "Does that mean as soon as the buds at the bottom turn to cotton or the majority of buds are no longer flowering?"  But, my memory is that most of the plant has turned sometime in September and Snow does not settle in until the second to third week of October.   We will see.

RV We Home Yet? was one of my sources for that bit of information about fireweed as a weather vane, but there is also an absolutely wonderful view of a hillside that is recovering from burn, a rich carpet of the blooms.  One year we drove to Circle City, to the Yukon River.  We passed large tracts of hillsides that had burned a few years before and they were as beautiful and just plain awe-inspiring as the photo in this RV traveler's blog.

Fireweed are strong settlers after fire or other disturbances.  The field I photographed today has not been disturbed for several years and you can see that the flowers are now interspersed with grass.  There were years when it was nearly all purple this time of year.  As more grasses and trees grow, the flower gives way to other species in the progression.  We have fireweed plants in our yard that grow each year, but there is not enough light for them to bloom.  They are already in too much shade.  At some point in the progression of species, they no longer sprout at all, but the seeds can remain dormant for long, long periods - as seen by their ready return after fire. 

By the photo, I am happy to say that winter is not yet in the wings for its entrance this year.