And looks great paired with your hosta!

Luv, luv, luv turtlehead this time of year but only have the species. Do you collect seeds from your Hot Lips plant? That dark foliage makes the pink turtleheads really pop.

Thanks for the kind words both of you. I have not collected seeds from this plant.

Looks like a wonderful plant -- I'll have to put this one on my wish list! Thanks for sharing.

A great Fall plant, too little used - and I could never figure out why!
If you like "Hot Lips", I highly recommend you search out Chelone
glabra (sometimes listed as C. obliqua "Alba') which has the same
snapdragon-like flowers in white, with just a hint of pink. . .they
look great together!

Carl

rouge21, I never really took any note of this plant until a "GardenBuddy" had kindly sent me it in the mail ... I'm now loving it for the nice pink blooms and the foliage that always impresses!

BTW, nice photo!

Carl, you have got me thinking. I am so pleased with the performance this fall of my "Hot Lips" I would like to incorporate another Chelone into our perennial garden. I have a spot in mind and a white "Alba" would be perfect but it is too tall at full height for this particular spot. I will think about this ie eventually justify why it should be there!

Anyone have experience with these 'chelones':

- glabra
- black ace
- pink temptation (dwarf)

Love this genus.

FYI, I'm fairly certain that 'Pink Temptation' is a seed strain from the vegetative clone 'Hot Lips'.

Have grown Chelone obliqua and Chelone lyonii 'Hot lips' for over ten years.
Chelone obliqua is red and taller, but quite invasive. I had it wedged in by a wall, where it was easy to keep corralled.

C. 'Hot Lips' is a very well behaved little plant, spreads gently and is easy to move around.

UPDATE:

In some 2013 catalogues I am seeing this new(er) Chelone Ieniemienie.

As it advertised as attaining a low height of 10" one might consider it as an interesting ground cover for a much less than full sun location.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Sun, Jan 27, 13 at 17:02

Hmm, turtlehead is on my shovel-prune list for 2013. My patch is in what should be a good spot (moist, full sun) and flowers adequately but is far from a standout and the bloom period is relatively short. Maybe I'll save a clump to plant in shade.

eric_oh please reconsider as I really really like my THead. As you made mention try it in much less than full sun as the one I show in the picture in the original post receives at most 3 hours of direct sun per day.

I grow C. lyoni and C.l.'Hot Lips'. For me, 'Hot Lips' remains very short, only a foot or so high. C.lyonii grows to about 4 feet in the shade and blooms a long time in late fall. Worth growing for its late bloom time alone. Looks great with fall flowering Japanese anemones.

How tall is your 'Hot Lips'?

I have two stands of 'Hot Lips'. The one in picture grows to maybe 15" while the other plant which does not get enough sun stretches to 2 feet.

I have reserved a couple of the new cultivar Ieniemienie for this season. It will be interesting to see where fits into the mix in terms of size.

That is a wonderful garden mxk3. Thanks as always for posting such inspiring pictures...so nice to see those bees!

you have a nice healthy specimen there - it probably will get taller after it's been in the ground another season or two and gets fully established.

Undoubtedly it will (ie get larger). But given the lack of space it might be better if it stayed the same size!

Btw, is that an hibiscus of some sort on the front edge of your garden?

And what is that seemingly very tall flowering plant way at the back next to the red leafed tree?

This post was edited by rouge21 on Sat, Feb 2, 13 at 14:28

Thanks for the kind words :0). Yes, those are Hibiscus - they are the Luna series. Truthfully, I'm not that thrilled with them. They happened to look great that year, but not so much in subsequent years. I prefer the Disco Belle series, they have performed better for me. I'm probably going to move those three hibiscus or find them a home and replace with either some butterfly bushes I need to re-locate or Disco Belle hibiscus. That is prime sunny real estate - I need to fill it with top performers!

Are you talking about the white flowers that are in front of the neighbor's chimney/door? If so, those are "Honorine Jobert" Japanese anemones. I'm constantly jumping up and down about my anemones, they are stupendous in the fall, and the foliage looks great all season (plant itself is only calf to knee high, deep green maple-shaped leaves), the pure sparkling white flowers come up on wiry stems, giving an airy, breezy look. I have "Patina" Jap. anemone too, which is a bright rose color, but those are in the front of the house.

I also have "Honorine Jobert" but yours is a much larger stand (possibly because mine must put up with lots of shade).

This post was edited by rouge21 on Sun, Feb 3, 13 at 6:34

C. obliqua 'Alba' and C. glabra are 2 different plants. Obliqua 'Alba' is a white form of C. obliqua and very prone to mildew. C. glabra is taller, has narrower leaves, likes slightly more moisture, and I haven't ever seen mildew on mine. I grow and sell C. glabra 'Black Ace' and it's a wonderful variety with somewhat darker foliage. Supposedly emerges with black stems. Black may be an overstatement of color. It's more smoky green. C. glabra isn't as dense as C. lyonii 'Hot Lips'. 'Hot Lips' (which I have grown for more than 10 years and also sell) isn't aggressive or invasive, but give it room. Clumps can reach 5' wide. All of them likek partial shade and plenty of moisture. They tend to grow in wet woodland edges or stream banks. C. glabra is more sun tolerant, and I often find it growing wild along streams amongst grasses and blue lobelia. All turtle heads are definitely under-used. 'Hot Lips' was in the running for PPA Perennial of the year, but lost out.

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