Skip to Content
American Meadows (USD) English
Home / Perennials / Fireweed

Fireweed

Chamaenerion angustifolium ssp. angustifolium
SKU: HC018180
$15.99
per Plant - 5" Deep Pot
Shipping:
Shipping begins the week of February 26th, 2024
Overview
Chamerion angustifolia (Fireweed) is a towering, beautiful addition to a meadow or native plant garden where it can naturalize. This showy native perennial is topped by a flowering spike of bright magenta-pink flowers in summer. Its foliage turns burgundy red in fall for additional interest. After flowers fade, seed pods will split open when ripe, and seeds fly away borne on fine hair-like threads. Fireweed is an important pollinator plant and a host plant for moths.
key features
Botanical Name
Chamaenerion angustifolium ssp. angustifolium
Growing Zones
Zone 2, Zone 3, Zone 4, Zone 5, Zone 6, Zone 7
Advantages
Native, Bee Friendly, Attracts Butterflies, Attracts Beneficial Insects, Mass Plantings, Rock Gardens
Soil Moisture
Waterwise, Average
Light Requirements
Full Sun, Morning Sun & Afternoon Shade
Mature Height
3-5' tall
Bloom Time
Early summer to fall
SKU
HC018180

Description

Chamerion angustifolia (Fireweed) has a wide native range across western North America, including all of Canada, that grows from sea level to the subalpine zone. It is quick to re-establish after a fire or soil disturbance, hence its common name, Fireweed. Growing wild along roadways, fields, and meadows in its native habitat, it is a resilient plant with narrow green-leaved foliage. It can reach up to 8 feet tall, though it is most commonly found to grow around 3-5 feet tall. Happy in most soil types and a full sun to afternoon shade location, it’s a nice addition to a natural setting or as a background for a rock garden. This important pollinator plant is frequented by bees, beneficial insects, hummingbirds, and butterflies. It is a primary host plant for the white-lined sphinx moth, elephant hawk moth, and the bedstraw hawk moth. Native Americans and herbalists prize Fireweed for its many uses as both food and medicine, and it’s especially prized in honey. Chamerion angustifolia will naturalize and spread by rhizome and seed.