Chelone
Chelone spp.
Special Features
Named for its unique, snapdragon-like flowers. Ideal for moist, shady gardens and is a magnet for butterflies.
Plant Specifications
Our team will help you integrate this plant into your landscape design
Growing Chelone on Martha's Vineyard
Chelone, the turtleheads, are native perennials of refined late-season character for Martha's Vineyard's partially shaded, moist to wet garden areas, producing hooded pink or white flowers in August and September above glossy, dark-green foliage in the sheltered, moisture-retentive borders of up-island properties. They thrive in the consistently moist soils near the island's freshwater pond margins and in the wetter, sheltered hollow plantings of West Tisbury and Chilmark, where their preference for consistent moisture and partial shade closely matches the available natural conditions. Chelone glabra, the white turtlehead, is the native host plant for the Baltimore checkerspot butterfly, adding significant ecological value to its ornamental role in the island's late-summer garden.
Deer resistance is reliable. Estate Care professionals incorporate Chelone into pond-edge, rain garden, and moist shade border programs on island properties where native ecological authenticity, late-season flower interest, and consistent moisture availability combine to support its best performance.
