Indian Paint Brush of the Rocky Mountains

by Ed Powers    As many of our readers know I travel areas of the Rocky Mountains annually and enjoy the abundant flora at all elevations.  I have really fallen love with the Indian Paint Brush flowers.  The plants are simple but the flowers are amazing and they come in several colors. Originally, I thought the different colors were a result of the altitude and soil condition, but I have come to learn each color is a different species.

   Indian paintbrush flowers are named for the clusters of spiky blooms that resemble paintbrushes dipped in bright red or orange-yellow paint. Growing this wildflower can add interest to the native garden. About the Indian paintbrush, also known as Castilleja, Indian paintbrush wildflowers grow in forest clearings and grasslands across the Western and Southwestern United States. Indian paintbrush is a biennial plant that usually develops rosettes the first year and stalks of blooms in spring or early summer of the second year. The plant is short-lived and