Pulmonaria saccharata Pierres Pure Pink - Lungwort

The Pulmonaria saccharata 'Pierre's Pure Pink' is as beautiful with its light green-grey foliage speckled with silver-grey as with its delicate spring flowering in pale salmon-pink flowers, devoid of any trace of blue. This perennial is very hardy and forms a fabulous and almost evergreen ground cover in moist soil, bringing a lot of whimsy to shaded areas of the garden. This plant, which often precedes primroses and violets, is undoubtedly one of the first smiles of spring.

The Pulmonaria saccharata, also known as punctate Lungwort, is a fully hardy herbaceous perennial, belonging to the same family as borage and brunnera, the boraginaceae family. It is a botanical species native to semi-open wooded areas of Europe and Asia that has given rise to many cultivars with silver-speckled foliage, including the variety 'Pierre's Pure Pink'.

Unlike most lungworts, the 'Pierre's Pure Pink' variety produces pink flowers instead of blue. This rhizomatous plant forms a 30 cm (12in) high tapetum in flower and spreads laterally without a theoretical limit. The leaves, gathered in a flattened rosette, are very villous and about 25 cm (10in) long. They are lanceolate, pointed at the top and rounded at the base, while those of the floral stems are alternate, elongated and without a petiole. Their colour is a fairly light grey-green, dotted with small light spots, of a white-silver colour. From March to May-June, angular, branching stems covered with rough hairs emerge just above the foliage. They bear pendant cymes of tubular flowers, 5 to 10 mm (<1in) wide, in a light salmon-pink colour, with a darker throat. The creeping rhizome of lungworts produces new tufts of leaves after flowering, expanding the colony.

This lungwort is perennial and completely hardy, and its main use is as a ground cover. In winter, in well-protected areas, its foliage is often evergreen. It will quickly add a colourful note to exhausted soil under trees, bushes, along facades or north or east-facing alleys, or at the foot of sunless walls. This plant is a boon in cool climates, where few plants are willing to grow, such as Symphytum caucasica and the great periwinkle. It advantageously fills shady beds and even manages to grow under conifers. Plant some spring bulbs that will flower here and there with your lungwort. Also consider varying your bed with ground covers that flower later, such as brunneras, ternate Waldsteinia or perennial nodosum Geranium.