Pulmonaria Victorian Brooch - Lungwort

The Victorian Brooch Lungwort is a lovely variety whose small blue flowers quickly turn magenta pink, creating an interesting bicolour effect on a carpet of silver-grey leaves speckled with silver, most often evergreen. This very hardy perennial forms a delightful ground cover in cool and humus-rich soils, bringing lots of whimsy to shaded areas of the garden. This plant blooms throughout spring, accompanying daffodils, periwinkles and wood hyacinths .

The Pulmonaria saccharata, also known as the Spotted Lungwort, is a fully hardy herbaceous perennial plant, 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, which has given rise to many cultivars with silver-speckled foliage, including the 'Victorian Brooch' variety.

The 'Victorian Brooch' variety is distinguished by its blue flowers quickly turning pink-purple. This rhizomatous plant forms a 30 cm (12in) high carpet in bloom and spreads laterally without any theoretical limit. The leaves, gathered in a flat rosette, are very hairy and about 25 cm (10in) long. They are lanceolate, pointed at the top and rounded at the base, while those of the flowering stems are alternate, elongated and without petioles. Their color is a fairly light grey-green, punctuated by small light spots, white-silver in colour. From April to June, angular, branching stems covered with rough hairs emerge just above the foliage. They bear pendulous cymes of tubular flowers, 5 to 10 mm (<1in) wide, blue at opening, then pinkish-violet, with a deeper throat. The creeping rhizome of lungworts produces new tufts of leaves after flowering, expanding the colony.

A perennial and fully hardy, this lungwort is mainly used as ground cover. In winter, in well-protected areas, its foliage is often evergreen. It will quickly add a splash of colour to exhausted soil under trees, bushes, along facades or north or east-facing alleys, at the base of sunless walls. This plant is a blessing in cool climates, where few plants will grow, such as Caucasian comfrey and large periwinkle. It nicely fills shady flower beds and even thrives under conifers. Plant some spring bulbs that will bloom here and there with your lungwort. Also consider mixing your flower bed with ground covers that bloom later, such as brunneras, Waldsteinia ternata, or perennial Geranium nodosum.