Chelone glabra, White Turtlehead

At their best where they receive consistent moisture, these showy plants have, none-the-less, limped by in my dry gardens for the last few years with one even managing to survive and bloom in the Perth meadow. In very dry settings they tend to stay below two feet in height and have a reduced bloom season but they have still done surprisingly well for a shoreline species.

In their preferred setting, they can stretch quite tall, up to around 5’ I’ve read, although I’ve only personally seen them reaching to a bit shy of 4’. They can also become quite bushy, filling out to around 2’ to 3’ wide over time. There is a particularly happy one that I spotted in a ditch last summer that I’ll try to find again in the coming season and note for a return visit in the fall to gather a couple of pods of seeds.

Their blooms start opening from the bottom of the cluster in mid to late summer, working their way to the top over a few weeks. There has been some research conducted on secondary chemical compounds found in nectar and Turtlehead nectar contains aucubin and catalpol which were found to be effective at reducing gut parasites for the bees that consumed Turtlehead nectar. I heard in a talk recently that bees suffering from this infestation preferentially visit Turtlehead flowers for nectar as a means of self-medicating. There is so much that we are still learning about plants and how they take care of those they are in relationship with!

Once the blooms fade in September they are on to the seed growing stage. Each fat, rounded seed pod holds rows, almost stacks, of thin, papery seeds that often aren’t ready for gathering until the first hard frost in the fall and may still need some additional drying time indoors after that. But your patience will be generously rewarded; they offer their seeds in abundance.

If you have a patch of rich soil in a sunny spot, especially if it is near a downspout or other water source, these are a lovely late-season flower to plant alongside Pink Swamp Milkweed, Great Blue Lobelia and Cardinal Flower, Common Boneset, Swamp Rosemallow, Winged Loosestrife, Scarlet Beebalm, Purple Stemmed Aster and Tall Meadowrue, among other moisture loving companions, for a very showy buffet for pollen and nectar feeding species.

As an aside, it seems that every photo I have of this species was taken while traveling around Ontario on summer vacation, so they are all from August, even though these bloom into September most years.