Sep 14, 2010 By Herald Standard Staff 4 min read

There are a lot of flowers in my garden that are fading fast – if they’re not already gone. Past is the time of irises and daylilies. I’m tired now of the annual bedding plants that have been blooming steadily since early summer. Black-eyed Susan, a favorite perennial of mine, is really coming into its own now, but it needs company.

A perennial that blooms this time of year that I have often admired, but has not yet been introduced to my garden, is Helenium autumnale. This plant’s unfortunate common name is “sneezeweed,” but also is sometimes called “Helen’s Flower.”

Helenium autumnale is a native to eastern North America. The common variety is typically found in moist, low ground, such as wet meadows and roadsides. A member of the aster family, common sneezeweed can grow from several feet to five or six feet tall. Hardy in zones 3-8, it does well in our region.

One of the reasons I like sneezeweed is because it has happy-looking, one-to-two-inch -wide yellow composite flowers that attract pollinators like crazy. The petals actually are ray flowers, wedge-shaped with several teeth at the edge. This interesting decorative edge adds visual impact. Sneezeweed also begins blooming in late summer and early fall, after many other perennials are finished their floral shows.

Don’t let the common name fool you. Sneezeweed does not cause sneezing from its pollen. The plant’s pollen is too heavy to become airborne. However, the plant blooms at the same time as ragweed, which does produce airborne pollen that causes some people to sneeze as an allergic reaction. Sneezeweed may have derived its common name from the reported practice of Native Americans to use the dried flowers and leaves of Helenium autumnale as snuff. When inhaled, the dried plant material would cause violent sneezing, which supposedly drove away evil spirits.

Sneezeweed does like to be in the sun and makes a nice cut flower. Because it can grow very tall, flowers may need staking. There are a variety of cultivars that offer flowers of varying colors. “Coppelia” has coppery-orange flowers; “Moerheim Beauty” has brownish-red rays (petals); and “Rubinzwerg” has deep red flowers. My favorite cultivar is “Red and Gold,” aptly named for the variety’s red and golden petals.

There are many related species of Helenium across the United States. A word of caution, sneezeweed is toxic to sheep and can cause other animals and humans to become sick if ingested.

Eastern Box Turtle Update: After my last column about the eastern box turtle, I received several e-mails about this delightful creature. One e-mail was from a researcher that studies turtles and she shared some additional information about the small home range of this turtle species. Eastern box turtles stay in a limited range because everything they need is in that area-food, shelter, a place to winter over, other turtles for mating, etc. What I found most interesting is that I may have done my turtle a disservice by relocating him to the woods behind my house.

“Box turtles have an especially small home range and are hard-wired to their own very specific geographic location,” the researcher explained. I looked into it further and discovered that other scientific findings about the box turtle’s fidelity to its home range are similar. Another researcher suggested that most displaced turtles will try to return to their home range. So, while my turtle may possibly like the new area, it is more likely he is making his way back to his home ground. Unfortunately, he will have many miles to travel. Fortunately, he will have only one paved road to cross.

Based on this new information, in the future, if I see a turtle crossing a road I will simply help it get to the other side.

Another reader shared a photo of a box turtle that appeared in his garden several times in the spring. How lucky he is to have such a pleasant visitor! What to do with the turtle? The best advice is to let the turtle alone and let him or her enjoy the local area it calls home.

The reader also pointed out that this visiting turtle had had his shell marked by some unknown individual with purple paint. That kind of marking is actually harmful. So, if you see an eastern box turtle and you want to be able to recognize it in the future, make a drawing of the shell pattern or take a photo. Please don’t mar the turtle’s shell.

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Susan Brimo-Cox gardens, observes nature and writes in Ohiopyle. Readers can send questions or comments to her at naturesgarden@brimo-cox.com.