FIELD NOTE 003 | Lost and Found in the Native Plant Garden

What a vole, some bee balm, and a surprise sprout are trying to tell me.

This plant was the Bradley Cooper of my garden. Easy on the eyes and simple, boy-next-door charm. From late May to nearly July, it was a pale ballet-pink flower, slightly polka-dotted. Like sun-kissed freckles, plant style. Reaching only about knee high by mid-June, it was never asking for much in the garden. Not super showy, but when looked at closely, the bloom, shaped like an exploding firework, was always worthy of a photo or two. Or twenty.

Was. Somewhere…between 2023 and today, my little patch of Monarda bradburiana just disappeared.

The resident vole family has not since responded to my inquiries.