#fireweed

[telekitnetic-art]

Fireweed Grouse Collar 🐚🌌

I made this collar/stole for my high school graduation this year; the two main symbols on it, the grouse and the fireweed, are two important beings to my clan I’m particular. The formline shapes and stitching is a little bit rough in some places as this was the first time I ever made something like this, but I am still very proud of how it turned out, and even prouder that I got to wear it during my graduation ceremony.

The collar is made from felt, ultrasuede, and abalone shell buttons, and took approximately two-three months to make.

[huariqueje]

Rallarros - Carin Ax

Swedish , b. 1915 -

Colour lithograph , 31 x 18.5 cm. Ed. 61/250.

[highways-are-liminal-spaces]

Yakutat, Alaska

Taken August 2023

[riverwindphotography]

Fireweed flowers, dripping from a fresh rain

(c) riverwindphotography, August 2022

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Even as a drone hovered above to get this shot, a large male polar bear that photographer Martin Gregus, Jr., calls Scar never stirred in this bed of fireweed. Gregus says he named many of the bears in hopes it would help people relate to them as individuals needing protection.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARTIN GREGUS, JR.

[fentonphoto]

Fireweeds, pine trees, and Mount Baker-pretty perfect day. @dailyearth

[rabbitcruiser]

Schwatka Lake, Whitehorse

Schwatka Lake is a reservoir created by the damming of the Yukon River in Whitehorse, Yukon, completed in 1958. The dam provides electrical power generation and is operated by the Yukon Energy Corporation. The White Horse Rapids, which gave the city its name, are now under the lake. The lake was named after Frederick Schwatka, a US Army Lieutenant who was first to explore the total length of the Yukon River.

A fish ladder has been constructed around the hydroelectric dam to allow the passage of Chinook salmon to their spawning grounds upstream of Whitehorse. The Chinook salmon that pass the dam have the longest freshwater migration route of any salmon, over 3,000 kilometres to the mouth of the Yukon River in the Bering Sea.

Whitehorse Water Aerodrome, a float plane base, is located on the lake. The lake has been the city's water supply for some years, but the city is now converting to relying entirely on aquifers, partly due to the threat of pollution from fuel spills and other activities by people in the watershed of the lake. Previously, there had been talk of moving the float plane base or the water supply to Fish Lake, which is impractically located to the west over a winding, steep road.

Source: Wikipedia

[flowerishness]

Chamaenerion angustifolium (fireweed)

Fireweed is a classic ‘colonizer’ plant. It’s seeds are carried by the wind and if they land on a patch of open ground, they sprout. Fireweed particularly likes the burned-off lands created by forest fires. When a wild fire scorches the land, it burns off the surface organic material in the soil but leaves behind the minerals. Fireweed stabilizes these fragile mineral soils and the valuable nutrients aren’t simply washed away by the rain. This process makes the minerals bioavailable to all the plants that follow, and eventually produces a healthy and self-sustaining forest.

Fireweed can cover vast areas after a fire and it usually rules the roost for about five years, after which it is overtaken by taller plants. In addition to producing up to 500 seeds a plant, it spreads by underground rhizomes. If another wildfire occurs and burns off this year’s growth, fireweed will rapidly regenerate a new plant from these underground roots. They say that after the Mount St Helens eruption in 1980, fireweed started poking up through the volcanic ash a week later.

I found this fireweed at a railway crossing down by the beach. It appeared to be growing in a matrix of crushed rock and not much else. This lovely specimen had a million-dollar view of the ocean but after all it is a weed. That may be a swanky hotel in the background but this fireweed was definitely growing “on the other side of the tracks.”

[lindamarieansonsnaps]

[vandaliatraveler]

Early summer at Summit Lake, a quick detour off the Highland Scenic Highway in the Monongahela National Forest.

From top: an unidentified fungi growing in a mossy nook; an impressive young Berkeley's polypore (Bondarzewia berkeleyei), which is not a true polypore but a member of the Russulales order; another massive Berkeley's polypore with my hand for perspective - these beauties can grow up to three feet wide and produce additional shelf-like caps from a single stem, giving them a tiered appearance as they mature; the tall and stately foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis), whose profusion of tubular white flowers draws hordes of long-tongued bees and hummingbirds from late spring to early summer; common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), whose large, dangling umbels of pink to purplish flowers are Mother Nature's ultimate pollinator buffets; swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), also known as rose milkweed, a wetlands-loving beauty with narrow, lanceolate leaves; black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), an irresistible summer aster with a prominent, dark brown button at the center of its flower head; and the sensual arc of a fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium), whose flowers have elongated, dangling stamens and a four-cleft, curling stamen.

[lindagoesmushrooming]

[telekitnetic-art]

Finally got the skin cover off so here’s the tattoo I’ve been teasing for a while!!! I’m really happy with how it turned out and I hope you guys like it!!

(Who wins; a pic of the tattoo the tattoo artist took himself after he finished it with his professional photography and lighting setup, or a photo I took while fighting for my fucking life trying to set up the right angle after I got out of the shower?)

Edit: the condensation over the bathroom mirror finally went away so here’s another picture

Plus the final design and some symbolism/tattoo significance below the cut

The main reason I chose Fireweed is because A) it’s my clan’s crest!! I’m from the Laksamshu clan!

The second is because of Fireweed’s significance in nature; for those of you that don’t know, fireweed is known primarily for how it grows after a wildfire or similar natural disaster. In wildfire burn areas where ground has been ruined, fireweed actually thrives and is considered to be one of the first signs of an ecosystem regrowing after a disaster! They grow fast and spread quickly, which is ideal for areas that have been ravaged by fire. More info here.

Because of this, I wanted to try and pair the fireweed with a stylus pen (a common pen used for digital artwork, I’m sure most people know on Tumblr what it is) as a symbolism of creativity and renewed passion for artwork. My motivation to create has taken some rough hits over the years for multiple reasons, I’m sure most online artists can relate, so I wanted to design this tattoo with the thought in mind that no matter what happens, I still have that creative energy with me no matter how burnt out I feel or how divisive or depressing the art scene can be. A symbol that I have the ability and talent to create, even when I feel like I’ve lost it.

[mountrainiernps]

Many plants are starting to feature berries or seeds instead of flowers, but a few late season wildflowers are hanging in there. Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) has tall stems with numerous pink flowers that begin blooming lower on the stalk, moving upwards as the season progresses. Flowers that bloomed earlier may already be going to seed while flowers at the top of the same plant are still in bloom! You can find fireweed around the park from low to subalpine elevations.

Remember to please stay on trail! It doesn’t take many steps to trample the wildflowers you are coming to see. Many trails offer great opportunities for that perfect mountain + wildflower photo. Where are you finding wildflowers?

For updates on what’s blooming where visit https://go.nps.gov/RainierWildflower

Unfamiliar with Mount Rainier’s wildflower species? Check out the wildflower guide at https://go.nps.gov/RainierWildflowerGuide

NPS Photo of fireweed along the Paradise Valley Road, 8/23/23. ~kl

[highways-are-liminal-spaces]

Driving alone through the Yukon during golden hour(s)

[riverwindphotography]

FIreweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) is in full bloom in the high country, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

(c) riverwindphotography, August 2022

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Martin watched this polar bear cub playing in a mass of fireweed on the coast of Hudson Bay, Canada.

Photo by Martin Gregus

Wildlife Photographer Of The Year