Fireweed near Anchorage 

16X12 

Oil on Linen Panel 

Photograph by Barbara Cooper

My husband and I visited Alaska this summer and were interested in the story about fireweed. It seems the petals of fireweed bloom bit by bit during the summer. When the petals bloom to the top, fall is there, and trees  begin turning immediately. The petals then turn a papery white and blow away leaving a skeleton of the original plant. I took this photograph at a park outside Anchorage overlooking a parking lot a few days after the plants had bloomed fully.