In praise of pulmonaria
When the flowers start to appear, you know spring isn’t far off!
Pulmonaria are the first perennials to bloom, with some varieties producing the odd flower in February. Most are just beginning to push bullet-shaped leaf buds through the ground, which by late March have developed into a low, dense mound of long leaves that’s covered for many weeks with clusters of cheerful, bell-shaped flowers. The flowers are also a valuable food source for early emerging bees.
Pulmonaria are very hardy plants and have been grown in gardens for centuries, not just because they’re attractive, but they were thought to be a good cure for ailments of the lung, hence the common name lungwort. Take this a step further and we discover that the botanical name pulmonaria is derived from the Latin word pulmo, meaning lungs, and refers to the lung-like patterning of spots on the leaves. In the early days only a few types were found in gardens. All had blue flowers and spotted, mid-green leaves. New species were introduced with plain, dark green foliage and flowers that varied in colours as they open. These were known by the common names of ‘soldiers and sailors’ and ‘Jacob’s coat’.
These delightful spring-flowering plants like a well-drained, but not too dry soil, in a partly or fully shaded spot. Despite having the perfect situation in my garden I’ve found some plants to be less reliable than others. I suspect this is because the horticultural industry relies heavily on the laboratory method of micro-propagation to multiply some varieties. This has resulted in a weakening of the plant, and sadly whiteflowered ‘Sissinghurst White’ has become a much weaker plant than it was years ago. Thankfully this hasn’t happened to the lovely ‘Blue Ensign’, which has dark green, unspotted leaves and bright blue flowers that look wonderful with spring yellows.
Some gardeners see no point in growing a pulmonaria that doesn’t have interesting leaves. I don’t altogether agree, although I grow varieties with heavily spotted leaves in shady spots to brighten the area. They don’t all need shade. The relative newcomer ‘Trevi Fountain’,
with dark blue flowers and spotted leaves, grows well in the sun, as does ‘Opal’, which is one of my all-time favourites. These two varieties form neat, upright clumps, while other types slowly spread to create excellent weed-excluding, ground
cover that’ll thrive in a reasonably shady spot as long the soil remains moist. If you have this situation I recommend lilac-blue flowered P. saccharata ‘Mrs Moon’, and pink-flowered P. saccharata ‘Leopard’, P. rubra and its very similar counterpart P. rubra ’Redstart’. The flowers of some varieties, such as ‘Diana Clare’ and P. longifolia ‘Majesté’ open pink and change to blue as they age. They both have almost entirely silver leaves that grow into eye-catching flat, silver rosettes. A word of warning, all silver-leaved lungworts need to be grown in the shade to prevent the leaves from being scorched by the sun. l Reader offer: Three pulmonaria in 9cm (3½in) pots – £20 for Garden News readers (usual price is £23.05 including delivery). Set comprises one of ‘Blue Ensign’; one of ‘Opal’ and one of ‘Redstart’. Call 01686 670342 to place your order, mentioning this article.