Lungwort

Did you know

• Lungwort is famous for its 'two-colored' flowers—each cluster has both pink and blue blooms at once, because the buds open pink and turn blue as they age, sometimes in the same hour.
• The leaves are spotted with silver patches that medieval herbalists thought looked like diseased lungs—under the 'Doctrine of Signatures,' the plant was therefore prescribed for respiratory illnesses.
• Lungwort blooms before almost anything else in the woodland garden—pink-and-blue flower clusters appear in March, often before the plant's own leaves have fully unfurled.
• Modern cultivars like 'Trevi Fountain' and 'Raspberry Splash' have leaves so silvered they look almost frosted—they're now grown more for their year-round foliage than for their fleeting flowers.
• Lungwort flowers are an essential early-season nectar source for bumblebee queens emerging from hibernation—the rich nectar fuels the establishment of new colonies in March and April.

Color meanings

Uses

• Shade gardens
• Spring borders
• Pollinator gardens
• Foliage plant