give any gardening magazine or horticultural journal and you ’ll find much tending devote to the merits of drought and heat - tolerant plants in the ornamental landscape . That makes sense in thought of our past few year ’ warmer than normal , dry summer . But what if you do n’t have a red-hot , ironical , gay site ? Some gardener have shady conditions pair with damp or even swampy soil . For them , the challenge lies in identifying plants that like such grow conditions . Cheloneis an ideal selection for just such a garden .
If you ’re not familiar withChelone , it ’s pronounced kee - LO - nee , which rhymes with baloney . The name is derived from the Greek Scripture for tortoise . The coarse name for this works , turtlehead , is inspired by the quirky - count tube-shaped , two - lipped shape of the flowers . They call to mind an animal ’s gawp backtalk . The flesh is also reminiscent of snapdragon blossoms , which is not surprising since the two plant are related .
Chelone’sglossy , dreary green , simple , oval- to spear - shaped leaves have lightly toothed leeway and appear opposite one another on stiff , weather - tolerant stems . The handsome leaf and the industrial plant ’s tidy , upright habit present a staring transparency for the plant ’s white or pink flush . The combination is particularly winsome in either mottled sunshine or tincture .
One of the best property of Chelone is that it bloom afterward than most perennials , bringing a fresh look and attract to the late summer garden . The flowers are borne on concluding spikes or racemes at the top of the plant . The low bloom open up first and gradually open to the top of the raceme over a period of weeks . The flowering period can last 3 to 6 weeks or longsighted . Although not really necessary , a niggling deadheading can protract the flowered display .
Besides their resemblance to a turtle ’s head , Cheloneflowers have a unparalleled botanical feature article — a infertile stamen in addition to four fertile ones . The unfertile stamen is utile in helping to identify the variousChelonespecies . For case , it is green inC. glabra , white inC. obliqua , and rose - tipped inC. lyonii .
CHELONE coinage
TheChelonefamily admit the play along metal money , all of which are native to the United States :
genus Chelone glabra , or blanched turtlehead , is the small of the mintage , topping out at about 2 ’ to 3 ’ . It is wide distributed from Newfoundland to the N , Georgia to the south , and Mississippi to the Rebecca West . The 1 ” foresighted bloom are commonly white or emollient but may also be pale pink , pink - colour , or green - tint . Wildflower partizan apprise this industrial plant because it attracts hummingbirds , bees , and butterfly . In fact , C. glabrais the main larval host flora for the endangered Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly stroke .
Chelone lyoniiis ordinarily mention to as pinkish snake-head , Lyon ’s shellflower , or Appalachian turtlehead . This 2 ’ to 4 ’ tall southern species is aboriginal to the higher Appalachian elevations of Alabama , North Carolina , South Carolina and Tennessee . It performs well in gardens with average or drier grease .
Chelone obliqua , or red shell-flower , has mystifying pinkish peak and flower sooner thanC.glabra . This 2 ’ to 3 ’ marvellous plant life is aboriginal to the Blue Ridge areas of Tennessee , Arkansas and Michigan and the Atlantic coastal plain , from South Carolina to Maryland . This is the most heat - tolerant of theChelonespecies .
SeveralChelonecultivars are also available commercially :
‘ Hot Lips ’ is a 2 ’ to 4 ’ tall cultivar ofC. lyonii . This popular cultivar has sheeny dismal - green foliage , red stems , and rise up - pink efflorescence that bloom on slow terminal capitulum . swipe it back in May to produce a bushier works .
Cheloneis fairly easy to find in the plant nursery trade . Most well - buy in commercial nurseries bear at least one or two species . ‘ Hot Lips ’ and ‘ Tiny Tortuga ’ are two of the more popular cultivar and are also comparatively prosperous to locate .
ethnic REQUIREMENTS
Chelonelikes moist , neutral to slightly acid dirt with a pH of 5.0 to 6.8 . The grime should be ameliorate with plenty of leaf mold and compost to help it retain wet . Moisture is fundamental to growingChelonesuccessfully . For drier sites , a thick stratum of chopped leave around the fundament of the works will help book moisture in the soil .
Ideally , this works thrives best in a partially gay site with evenly dampish soil . It will , however , adapt to full sunshine and drier grease , especially if the site is dampish in the spring fourth dimension . If grown in full ghost , cut the industrial plant back by about one-half in mid - spring to create a bushier , more compact plant . Otherwise , the stem turn may become tall-growing and flop over .
Give this plant some space to broadcast out . This low - care , native perennial wild flower naturalizes very easily . It grow slowly by rhizomes , finally forming thumping or colonies up to 3 ’ widely depend on the mintage or cultivar . Once the clump achieve that size , it generally cease spread out . Fortunately , it does not spread aggressively and is not encroaching .
Leave the spent foliage in place over winter and bump off it in other spring . The standing foliage helps protect the plant life ’s crown from winter weather - relate damage .
Cheloneis a comparatively problem - free perennial although slugs and snails may occasionally dine on the foliage . Otherwise , this industrial plant has no serious pest problems . It is also a reasonably disease - free plant life . However , it can get powdery mildew in late summertime if the dirt dry out . Keeping the soil evenly moist serve to avoid the job . Also , plenty of blank space should be allowed between plants to facilitate good melody circulation .
As for deer and rabbit , most source match that these habitually destructive brute findChelonedistasteful and leave it alone . Other sources warn that Chelone is not resistant from beast browse . In my experience with this plant , it all look on the specific animal population and the accessibility of other , more desirable food .
PROPAGATION
Cheloneis easy to disseminate by seeds , stem cuttings or division :
PropagateChelonecultivars by either stem cutting or root division in orderliness to hold the specific characteristics of the cultivar . Propagation by seeds will not result in a clone of the mother plant .
utilisation IN THE LANDSCAPE
Cheloneadds colouration to the cosmetic garden late in the summertime when many other perennial have finished blooming . It is an idealistic companion for other damp grease enjoy flora such as Panthera pardus plant ( Ligularia ) , rose mallow ( Hibiscus),Astilbe , blue lobelia ( Lobelia siphilitica ) , cardinal flower ( Lobelia cardinalis ) , flag iris , and various sedge ( Carexspecies ) . Black Cohosh ( Cimicifuga ) , Joe Pye weed ( Eupatorium ) , monkshood ( Aconitum ) , and fern , such as lady fern ( Athyrium ) and regal fern ( Osmunda regalis ) , are other interesting comrade .
This flora look best when plant in multiple rather than used as a exclusive specimen . Also , it is best used in the landscape as a component of :
WhileCheloneis a popular plant choice for any of the landscape scenarios mentioned , it also looks interesting in cut flower arrangements . The flower stalks should be contract when the buds on the top third portion of the bloom spike are still shut . Once rationalize , the stalks take up a lot of weewee . However , the flowers will last about a week in the vase .
SOURCES
Armitage ’s Native Plants for North American Gardens(Armitage , Allan M. , 2006 )
Flora of Virginia(Weakley , Alas S. ; Ludwig , J. Christopher ; and Townsend , John F. , 2012 )
Herbaceous Perennial Plants , A Treatise on their recognition , Culture , and Garden Attributes , Third Edition ( Armitage , Allan M. , 2008 )
aboriginal Plants of the Southeast(Mellichamp , Larry , 2014 )
perennial for Every Purpose(Hodgson , Larry , 2003 )
Plant Propagation , ( The American Horticultural Society , 1999 )
“ Chelone – Tough as a Tortoise,”rutgersgardens.rutgers.edu
“ For the Birds , Butterflies and Hummingbirds : make Inviting Habitats , Virginia Cooperative Extension ( VCE ) Publication HORT-59NP , www.pubs.ext.vt.edu / HORT-59 - PDF
“ rarefied , Threatened and Endangered Animal Fact Sheet , ” Maryland Department of Natural Resources , Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly
“ Pollinator - Friendly Plants for the Northeast United States,”www.nrcs.usda.gov
“ Rain Garden Plants , ” VCE Publication 426 - 043,www.pubs.ext.vt.edu
“ Wild Flowers of the United States,”uswildflowers.com
