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    Pulmonaria 'Cotton Cool'

    Lungwort

    This plant is not currently for sale. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.

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    Item #: 5058

    Zones: 4a to 8a

    Dormancy: Evergreen

    Height: 12" tall

    Culture: Light Shade

    Origin: Hybrid

    Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)


    We first saw this lungwort in the UK during the mid-1990s and now finally have enough to share. The 1' long leaves emerge green with silver spots and soon mature to solid silver with a green border. The vigorous clumps are topped in very early spring with flowers that open pink, then quickly change to a dark cobalt-blue. In a vote by the UK-based pulmonaria group, P. 'Cotton Cool' was voted #1 for best summer foliage. Although it is reportedly a P. saccharata 'Argentea' selection, we instead feel that it actually had a productive rendezvous with a nearby P. longifolia, due to the narrow leaf shape and great heat tolerance.

    Maintenance:

    Pulmonarias are evergreen herbaceous perennials. They are grown as much for their spring floral display as for their evergreen silver spotted or entirely silvered foliage. Spent flower stalks are not attractive and need to be removed so the foliage can once again take center stage. They are readily cut down low enough so they are out of sight. If allowed to go to the seed they can produce seedlings which will not be true to type.

    Pulmonarias don't require regular division but division is a means of propagation that the home gardener can employ to increase their display of pulmonarias.

    Growing Conditions:

    Pulmonarias want a bright shady or part shade location with moist well drained soil, neither soggy or dry.

    Garden Value:

    Pulmonarias are entirely worth growing for their early spring floral display. Cobolt blue is the most common flower color amongst Pulmonarias;a color that is fairly rare amongst flowers. Those cultivars with silver spotted or entirely silvered leaves add color to the shade garden most of the rest of the year and thus are of great value to those wanting color in their shade garden.

    Pulmonarias are a member of the borage family, the Boraginaceae, and not readily eaten by rabbits and deer.