White turtlehead
Chelone glabra · Plantaginaceae
The native turtlehead of wet meadows: white, pink-tipped hooded flowers on upright stems in late summer.
- Size
- 3 ft tall, 18 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part shade
- Flowers
- Early August to mid September
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around white turtlehead
The planner designed this bed around white turtlehead when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) cottage garden in zone 6, part sun. It chose the other plants from the 367 that suit those conditions and its wet soil, and says below why white turtlehead stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 White turtlehead × 3, white
- 2 Lingonberry × 8, pink
- 3 English primrose × 8, yellow
- 4 Garden phlox 'Jeana' × 3, pink
- 5 Inkberry 'Gem Box' × 1, dark green leaves
- 6 Masterwort × 3, pink
- 7 Snowdrop × 12, white
- 8 Spring snowflake × 12, white
Why this plant
- The only spires. The others are bells, open bowls, dense clusters and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 3 ft it is one of the taller plants here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to inkberry 'Gem Box' (2½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one group. Massed, one kind reads as a single shape. Scattered, it would look spotty.
Why now
- In flower for 7 weeks. From early August to mid September.
- In company. With garden phlox 'Jeana' in early August: 2 kinds at once.
Planned as a cottage garden: 26 of the 26 plants (100%), bulbs aside, stand alone or in groups of no more than five, small enough for the kinds to mingle. The bed is balanced: the left half carries 52% of the visual weight and the right half 48%. The most in flower at one time is 3 kinds, in late March.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 5 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where white turtlehead goes in a border
At 3 ft it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium tall (2½ to 3 ft).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
It wants wetter soil than its pink cousin and suits a rain garden or pond margin. White flowers show well in the low light of early autumn.
- Rain gardens and wet soil
- Native streamside planting
- Late flowers for part shade
What to plant with white turtlehead
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Swamp milkweed.
- Cardinal flower: in flower together for six weeks, from early August; happy in the same wet soil.
- Joe Pye weed 'Gateway': in flower together for six weeks, from early August; bold leaves against its medium ones; tall enough (6 ft) to stand behind it.
Questions about white turtlehead
Does white turtlehead need sun or shade?
White turtlehead grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day), part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun) and part shade (2 to 4 hours of sun, mostly in the morning).
It wants moist to wet soil, rich in organic matter, and plenty of water. It copes with soil that stays wet.
What zones does white turtlehead grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does white turtlehead flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers early August to mid September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Mid August to mid September |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Mid August to mid September |
| Zone 5 | Early August to mid September |
| Zone 6 | Early August to mid September |
| Zone 7 | Early August to mid September |
| Zone 8 | Early August to mid September |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should white turtlehead be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is about its full width, so each plant keeps its own outline.
It grows 3 ft (90 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many white turtlehead plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as a group of three or five, with a second group further along in the other number.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is white turtlehead poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat white turtlehead?
They may. NC State does not list it as resistant to deer or rabbits. Where they visit, protect it, or plant it among ones they avoid.
What flowers after white turtlehead?
White turtlehead is over by mid September. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Garden chrysanthemum: from mid September to late October, 24 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Toad lily: from mid September to mid October, 2½ ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Blue wood aster: from mid September to mid October, 3 ft tall.
What does white turtlehead look like in winter?
White turtlehead dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
Is white turtlehead good for bees and butterflies?
White turtlehead is visited by pollinators, bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
It is native to the United States and Canada.
More Chelone
- Rose turtlehead Chelone obliqua
- Turtlehead 'Hot Lips' Chelone lyonii 'Hot Lips'
In these guides
- Plants for wet soil and rain gardens
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Pet-safe plants for shade
- Native perennials for pollinators
- Native plants for shade
- Garden plants native to Canada
- Plants for hummingbirds
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants for bees
- Plants with spires: vertical accents
- Plants for a white garden
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 3 ft (90 cm) tall, 18 in (45 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium tall (2½ to 3 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Early August to mid September; upright spires; white
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun, part shade
- Soil
- Rich, moist to wet
- Water
- High
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Plantaginaceae
- Comes from
- SE. Canada, N. Central & E. U.S.A
- Attracts
- Pollinators, bees, butterflies, hummingbirds
- Stands up to
- Wet soil
Checked against NC State Extension and VASCAN (plants of Canada). Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.