Pink-a-Blue Lungwort - 72-Cell Plug Tray

Pink-a-Blue shows two colors at once in spring: rosy pink buds and freshly opened medium blue flowers share the same clusters, giving each stem a soft two-tone look. It is one of the first perennials to bring color to a shade garden.

Once the flowers pass, long, narrow, dark green leaves splashed with silver spots take over and brighten shady corners until frost. Deer and rabbits tend to leave it alone, which makes it a dependable choice for woodland edges and borders under trees.

What it looks like

Small, drooping, funnel-shaped flowers about half an inch long, held in nodding clusters at the tips of short stems; pink buds and medium sky-blue open flowers appear together in the same cluster. Flower stems rise 8 to 12 inches above a basal clump of foliage. Leaves are long, narrow and lance-shaped, 8 to 12 inches long, dark green with many scattered round silver spots and a slightly bristly surface. After bloom the foliage forms a dense, spreading mound 16 to 18 inches tall and about 2 feet wide. At peak bloom the plant looks like a low carpet of spotted leaves topped with clusters of pink and blue bells.

Growing it with lavender

Lungwort needs shade and soil that stays moist, so plant it away from the lavender in a shaded bed under trees, along a north wall, or beside hostas and ferns.

Care

Plant in part to full shade in humus-rich soil that stays evenly moist; it tolerates dry spells poorly in sun. Hardy in zones 3-9; after flowering, cut off the old flower stems so fresh leaves fill in, and divide crowded clumps in early fall if needed.

At a glance

• Botanical name: Pulmonaria
• Flower color: Pink buds opening to medium blue
• Foliage: Dark green with silver spots
• Growth habit: Spreading, clump-forming mound
• Mature size: 16–18 in tall × 22–24 in wide
• USDA hardiness zones: 3–9
• Light: part sun to part shade, full shade
• Bloom start: Late-April
• Peak bloom: Mid-May
• Bloom pattern: Single Flush
• Deer resistance: Resistant
• Pollinator value: Good

Sizes and shipping

One full 72-cell plug tray: 72 young starter plugs of this variety (cells about 1⅓ in. wide × 2½ in. deep), rooted and ready to pot up into quarts or gallons. Best for growers and nurseries. Potted plants and plug trays ship during our live-plant seasons, March 1–May 31 and October 1–November 30; June through September is local pickup only. Plugs, potted plants and trays do not ship to AZ, CA, HI, ID, NV, OR, UT or WA.