When You See It

Lamium galeobdolon in the spring, Union Square Park

you see it. If you look long enough and hard enough at plants, even if you never have before in your life, you will begin to recognize the similarities of family members. (Here two members of the Lamiaceae, the mint family.) But only one is native and a real lover of sunny dry spots like the lot we are planting in and that's the Monarda punctata below. We're waiting on some plugs and hoping to introduce this native to that dusty lot. The other is considered a thug in some parts due to its success as a ground cover.

Monarda punctata in July, Brooklyn