I confess that I hadn't ever seen this plant in the wild, up on Kamiak Butte or wherever, until I ordered seed from Thorn Creek Native Seeds, planted it, and discovered that this plant loves it here. I realize that the reason I had never seen it was that in late May, I never had time to go hiking. This is prime time for the vegetable garden going in, and the never-ending weed patrol around here.
I have been trying for years to get any of the various Indian paintbrush (Castilleja) species to grow here. They have to feed on a host plant, and I had gotten nowhere with trying to get it to grow on Idaho fescue. Another plant that experts said would work is Penstemon, and I tried that for years, too. Weirdly, because of the COVID pandemic, the local White Pine chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society native plant sale (usually in the beginning of May) didn't happen last year, and there were a lot of plants around. My friend Charlotte came by on a regular basis with a few plants to try, and in July she had a couple of Indian paintbrush plants and baby Penstemons. It seemed almost pointless to try to plant in July, but what the heck. They lived, and vigorous Paintbrushes (C. miniata and C. cusickii !!) are coming up with them. And then another paintbrush I planted a couple of years ago decided to come up in another spot with a Penstemon this year. It must be the year!
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