Pulmonaria saccharata Silver Bouquet - Lungwort

The Pulmonaria saccharata 'Silver Bouquet' is an adorable variety of lungwort, both for its green foliage heavily speckled with silver-grey and for its spring flowering in beautiful clusters of pretty bells that range from pink to blue and violet in a lovely gradient of colours. This variety stands out for its vigour, quickly forming an almost evergreen ground cover that is very hardy in moist soil, bringing a lot of charm to shaded areas of the garden. The flowering of this perennial often precedes that of primroses and violets!

The Pulmonaria saccharata, also known as the Silver-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 numerous cultivars with silver-spotted foliage, including the 'Silver Bouquet' variety.

The 'Silver Bouquet' variety is a recent and particularly vigorous variety that also tolerates heat and powdery mildew quite well. This rhizomatous plant forms a dense ground cover that reaches 25-30 cm (10-12in) in height when in flower, spreading laterally without theoretical limits. 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 floral stems are alternate, elongated, and without petioles. Their colour is a fairly light grey-green, speckled with more or less large light spots, of a white-silver colour. From March to May-June, for several weeks, angular, branching stems covered in rough hairs emerge just above the foliage. They bear at their tips pendent clusters or cymes of tubular flowers 5 to 10 mm (0in) wide, which gradually change from red to pink, blue, and violet. As the flowers constantly renew themselves, all these colours are present at the same time. This early flowering attracts the first bees, at a time of year when sources of nectar are still scarce. The creeping rhizome of lungworts produces new tufts of leaves after flowering, which expand the colony. The foliage persists all year round, even in winter if the frosts are not too severe.

This lungwort, a perennial and fully hardy plant, is mainly used as a ground cover in semi-shaded to fully shaded areas. In winter, in well-protected areas, its foliage is often evergreen. It quickly adds a touch of colour to depleted 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 are willing to grow, such as Symphytum caucasicum and the great periwinkle. It beautifully fills shady flower beds and can even grow 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 flower later, such as brunnera, Waldsteinia ternata, or even perennial Geranium nodosum.