Pulmonaria from my friend Debora's garden
For years I’ve grown Pulmonaria ‘Mrs. Moon.‘ It has spotted leaves, purple/pink spring flowers, and grows 6 to 8 inches high.
But the Pulmonaria in this photo is different. The leaves are solid green. The flowers are more blue than pink. And at its full height it’s a foot and a half tall and at least a foot wide.
I dug it up at my friend Debora’s home. She has gorgeous, rambling border plantings, and when I expanded my garden 3 years ago she offered any extra plants she had. So I went over with a spade and a few pots to see what treasures I could retrieve. Several tiny Pulmonaria had scattered themselves across her gravel driveway. “Take them!” Debora said — “Vinny and I will just drive over them anyway.” And so I dug one up and brought it home.
In its second year my Pulmonaria exploded in size. And then it spread. Oh boy, has it spread, by stolons and seed, even popping up unwanted in the middle of other plantings. I’ve tried to give them away, but my friends are on to this one. “Did that come from Debora’s garden?” they ask. What can I do but nod. They laugh. They don’t want such an unkempt scoundrel.
But I don’t mind. I have a patch of them now. They’re large and impressive in a garden that doesn’t see much color till June. They’re easy to maintain and the blooms last for weeks. And while I don’t know for sure, I’d say this is Pulmonaria mollis, as opposed to Pulmonaria officinalis, the shorter version.
By the way, the common name lungwort refers to the spotted leaves that were thought to resemble diseased lungs, and so the plant was used to treat pulmonary infections. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)
Now if it would just rain…
Color in the Garden 