Lungwort Sissinghurst White

The leaves on Sissinghurst White lungwort are heavily spotted with silver, making the plant attractive even when it's not in bloom. In spring, it bears flowers in loose clusters that start out as pale pink buds that fade to white. The plant forms an 8" to 12" high clump that slowly spreads to form a ground cover without being aggressive and overtaking other plants. Works well under deciduous trees.

Grown as much for their attractive leaves as their flowers, lungworts look best grown in masses as a shady ground cover or combined with hostas, hellebores and ferns in a shady garden. The foliage remains attractive all season as long as the soil isn't allowed to dry out. You can rejuvenate a ragged patch by cutting the stems back by half after flowers fade. The genus name Pulmonaria and common name lungwort refer to the spotted foliage, considered to resemble a diseased lung. (It was once believed that if a plant resembled a particular body part, it had the ability to cure ailments associated with it; pulmonaria was used to treat respiratory problems.)