Purple Loosestrife is beautiful, at least from a distance, but it is also generally considered a noxious invasive. It is naturally a wetlands plant, though it will easily invade drier, adjacent waste lands. The first specimen that I found growing out of cracks was at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. I do not know when these pictures were taken, but they were already old and not of current quality by 2017. I have not, however, found newer specimens coming out of the concrete barriers of the Delaware River to replace them with, so I present them here anyway.
I also found one growing out of the pavement at the Navy Yard around the same time.
In August of 2017, I found one growing out of an abandoned wooden pier pillar, which was absolutely thriving in the spot.
2017 was a good year for me finding Purple Loosestrife, as I also found some specimens grown out of the cracks in the old tennis courts on the southern end of FDR Park, which have now been removed. Those can be seen here. FDR Park and the Navy Yard are contiguous, and they are common through that swampy area.
On August 2nd of 2019, I found one specimen growing out of the median of Columbus Boulevard, just north of the Walt Whitman Bridge, toward the Oregon Avenue side of the stretch. More shots of this specimen can be seen in this gallery. This area is just northeast of the Navy Yard, along the Delaware River and should be considered the same general area as far as plant populations go. The areas are connected by the shoreline, rail lines and roadways.
In August of 2025, I noticed another one poking out of an old stairwell from a leveled building in the space west of the highway, closer to the bridge than the previous specimen. The area appears to have been used to store road salt, and is rather barren with the exception of some of the more hardy species adapted to salty environments such as Saltmarsh Goldenrod and Ailanthus trees. This shot was taken on August 18th.
