Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the willowherb family. Fireweed will grow in semi-shaded forested areas and in sunny meadows. It likes rocky ground, waste areas, woodland edges and it can be grown in a garden. Fireweed also grows along highway and railroad embankments but it prefers disturbed areas.
Growing up in England in the fifties and sixties I knew this as Rose-bay Willowherb - a plant that grew and spread abundantly on abandoned city lots … especially so on uncleared bomb sites still remaining after the war. It is is the first colonizer of soil after forest fires and so made for the job of adding colour following destruction.
My wife, who is the gardener in the family, shuddered when I read this to her and cried, "Wildly invasive!"
Maybe she was afraid I'd buy a pot of them! We're having enough of a problem controlling our Laxiflora which has developed a Napoleon complex and looks like it aspires to conquer the garden!