May 19, 2026

Hiking through Virginia right now provides beautiful surprises. This brilliant scarlet flower is one of those delights. It’s Fire Pink (Silene virginica), which is native to eastern and central North America.

This striking plant belongs to the carnation, pink, or the Caryophyllaceae family, which includes flowers that have petals that seem to have the edges cut by pinking shears. That is how the common name of Fire Pink comes about, not from the color pink.

Given the vivid scarlet of the flowers, they are definitely easy to spot. I’ve dicovered them blooming not only here on my mountain but also in Shenandoah National Park and along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

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