It has the unusual common name of lungwort, which could put people off, but this actually refers to the foliage, which is often green with white spots, resembling a diseased lung.
These spring-time charmers are well worth planting in your home garden.
They come in a wide variety of both leaf and flower colours.
Where to plant
Pulmonaria are easy-care perennials, low-growing and suitable to plant as an edging or near the front of the garden.
They are a wonderful group of plants for semi-shady locations in your garden, as they prefer a moist, well-drained soil.
Planting combinations
A grouping that looks particularly pleasing in the long border is the pink-flowering Prunus "Accolade" under-planted with Pulmonaria officinalis "White Wings" and Chatham Island forget-me-not, Myosotidum hortensium, with its glossy green foliage and sky-blue flowers.
• After flowering, remove the old flowers and, occasionally, you may have to trim off scruffy leaves to tidy plants up.
• Easily grown from division of larger plants in spring or from root cuttings.
• Pulmonaria are flowering now in the herbaceous borders.
• Linda Hellyer is the rose and herbaceous collection curator at Dunedin Botanic Garden.
