Chelone obliqua - Pink Turtlehead

[Chris_W]

Here is another nice late flowering perennial - Pink Turtlehead

This is a picture of Chelone obliqua, which grows about 4 to 5' tall and flowers in August/September for us here. It spreads underground to form a colony and prefers part sun to part shade and good moisture. We have a wild white variety that grows here on the property in the swamp, in full sun.

In our growing area we have these in an area with heavy clay soil that has been amended with lots of compost and it absolutely loves it there. The soil holds some moisture after it rains, but it isn't all that wet really, yet still is growing great. There is some Joe Pye Weed nearby that is constantly wilting, but this has been more drought tolerant. It is shaded from the heat of the day.

The hummingbirds love this one too

Enjoy!

Chris

[R. Rock]

Hello,
Thanks for the picture. This plant deserves more recognition.

[tsneal]

Beautiful Chris. I moved my clump early this spring and it likes its new home...just finished up putting on a great show. Now to move the white variety. It never seems to make a clump...so a get a bloom here and a bloom over there. I'm thinking it might appreciate a bit more sun?

Stephanie

[Chris_W]

Hi Stephanie,

It might like to be in more sun than shade, and if you have the white species Chelone glabra it tends to like a little more moisture too. We consider Chelone to be more sun plants than shade plants, which surprises people when they see them growing here since most people seem to think of them as shade plants and are surprised by how much sunlight ours get.

So if yours is in a lot of shade and not flowering so great I think you could move it if you so long as the new spot doesn't dry out too much, or move a piece and try it.

One of these days I'm going to move a piece of the wild white ones here and put one in the garden. I think the deer are eating them out in the swamp

Thanks for sharing your experiences with these you two

Chris

[sis20001]

Hi Chris,
A timely topic for me. I just came in out of the rain to take a break. I'm still planting. The area where my pink turtles are growing, is perfect for my new Atlantis hosta. Would it be ok to move them now? They have finished blooming. Should I also cut them back? thanks again for being there, sis

[Chris_W]

Yes, it is fine to move the turtlehead now. I've never had any trouble moving them in the fall, I just bury the stems a little more than they were before. They will actually start to root out at any of the leaf nodes too.

Chris

[JaneG]

Stephanie, I'll second what Chris said . . . it's a moisture thing. They like sun, but can't tolerate dry. I've had them in full sun and they did well when I kept them moist, they didn't thrive as well if I didn't give them extra water. I found a mostly sunny spot that stays moist from run-off, and they are happy there. They also do well with hostas in the sunniest parts of the shady bed (high shade or dappled), but not in deeper shade.

Cute little blooms, I can see where they get the name "Turtleshead"!!