Pulmonaria Apple Frost - Lungwort

The 'Apple Frost' Lungwort is a recent variety of lungwort, with magnificent foliage and good resistance to wet conditions. This lovely lungwort forms a semi-evergreen carpet of undulate leaves, mostly silver with variegated green spots. It adorns itself in spring with blue-violet corollas with a pink centre, creating a bright and colourful display. This mildew-resistant variety is a fabulous ground cover with stunning young foliage, perfect for shady flower beds. It often blooms before primroses and violets and is undoubtedly one of the first smiles of spring.

The 'Apple Frost' hybrid lungwort is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the same family as borage and brunnera, the boraginaceae. This variety is derived, among others, from Pulmonaria officinalis, a perfectly hardy European plant widespread in our cool woodlands.

The 'Apple Frost' variety catches the eye with its sparkling foliage, white-silver speckled with green apple, but also with its delicate flowering, which changes from blue-violet to deep purple-pink, as is the case with certain comfreys. This rhizomatous plant forms a 25 to 30 cm (10 to 12in) tall flowering carpet and spreads laterally without any theoretical limit. The undulate leaves are villous, those at the base are lanceolate, pointed at the top and rounded at the base, while those on the flowering stems are alternate, elongated, and without petioles. In April, angular, branching stems covered with rough hairs emerge from the foliage. At their tips, they bear pendulous cymes of small, fully open bell-shaped flowers that turn pink before fading. The creeping rhizome of lungworts produces new tufts of leaves after flowering, expanding the colony.

This lungwort is perennial and completely hardy, making it ideal as ground cover. In winter, in well-protected areas, its foliage is often evergreen. It quickly adds a splash of colour to depleted soil under trees, bushes, along facades, or north or east-facing paths, at the base of sunless walls. This plant is a boon where few plants are willing to grow, such as Symphytum caucasicum and the large periwinkle. It also fills shaded flower beds beautifully and can even grow under conifers. Plant some spring bulbs alongside your lungwort for sporadic flowering. Consider also mixing your flower bed with ground covers that bloom later, such as perennial Geranium nodosum.