Turtle heads

I guess that I'm in touch with the seasons because it was almost exactly a year ago that I posted a photo of these flowers! They are called turtleheads, Latin name Chelone obliqua (chelone meaning tortoise). They start blooming about now, and are native to the area. As usual, few gardens seem to host native species; we seem to have a desire for the exotic.

Anyway, I looked back and noticed that my earlier photo was a close-up. You can imagine that I was all set to post another close-up, but I thought that wouldn't be fair so I went out and took a wider view. There's a bee on the left side, working her way through each flower, one by one.

Turtlehead

I guess they're called turtleheads because they look like a turtle's head. We started out with one, and bit by bit a few more grow each year. Now, we have a 4 foot long section of flowers! They're quite attractive and have a very delicate scent. The bees really like them because there aren't too many flowers open right now.

Chelone obliqua speciosa are apparently known all over the Eastern US.