Turtlehead

When I encountered Turtlehead in a flower catalog many years ago, it was pretty much love at first sight. Chelone glabra is so named because its blossoms were thought to resemble the head of a turtle—Chelone was a nymph whose refusal to attend the wedding of Zeus and Hera resulted in her transformation into a shelled reptile—and I thought it would make a perfect addition to my garden. The plant is happiest growing along the wet edges of streams and ponds, and because I had an abundance of waterlogged soil, I figured I could make it, along with another wetlands specialist called Cardinal Flower, happy. I was right, but what I didn't know at the time was this: even when ecstatic, neither Turtlehead, nor its companion, are particularly long-lived. C. glabra is also not that common in the wild. But this year, at water's edge along my daily route, I found one good-sized patch of Turtlehead. These often chilly days, turtles are few and far between, but their namesake wildflowers are putting on a gorgeous show. With any luck, they'll make seeds and I'll try to restore them to their place of former glory.