Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White - Lungwort

The Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White offers a magnificent light green foliage speckled with silver where delicate early white flowering thrives. This hybrid lungwort forms a fabulous perennial and hardy ground cover for shady beds, bringing a touch of light. This plant often precedes primroses and violets and is undoubtedly one of the first smiles of spring.

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

The 'Sissinghurst White' variety undoubtedly attracts more attention with its bright foliage, light green speckled with white-silver, than with its white flowering. This rhizomatous plant forms a 30 cm (12in) high flower carpet and spreads laterally without theoretical limit. The leaves are hairy, those at the base are lanceolate, pointed at the top and rounded at the base, while those on the floral stems are alternate, elongated and without a petiole. In March-April, angular, branching stems covered with rough hairs emerge from the foliage. They bear pendulous cymes of white tubular flowers at their tips, which turn pink before fading. The spreading rhizome of lungworts produces new leaf clumps after flowering, expanding the colony.

This lungwort is perennial and completely hardy, and is mainly used as ground cover. In winter, in well-protected areas, its foliage is often evergreen. It will quickly add a colourful touch to depleted soil under trees, bushes, along facades or north or east-facing paths, at the base of sunless walls. This plant is a blessing where few plants are willing to grow, such as Symphytum caucasicum and great periwinkle. It fills shady beds and even manages to grow under conifers. Plant some spring bulbs that will bloom here and there alongside your lungwort. Also consider mixing your bed with ground covers that flower later, such as perennial Geranium nodosum.