We've been talking about plumonarias in the hosta forum as great companion plants. I'd like to add some different kinds to my shade garden, but I've had some just out and out die on me while others do great. I have heard that some are more heat tolerant than others, and it would be great to get an idea of what does best in different areas, and in what conditions so we don't waste our money.
So, which pulmonarias do you have success with, and under what conditions are they growing? I have an unnamed one with breat pink and blue flowers in the spring, green leaves with some silver spots. Grows in humusly soil, some morning sun, and that's it. Others die.
Pulmonarias
good idea pins! I didn't know these were so fickle and I'd like to try again next year. This will be very helpful
The only one I've grown (with great success) sounds exactly like the cultivar you have, Pins.
I had it in a "medicinal" herb garden bed that had good humousy soil & an eastern exposure - morning sun only. It spread like wildfire, which I didn't mind at all..
Most pulmonaris have the pink/blue flowers.
I have about several different pulmonarias . I like them because of the early spring flowering and our winters here can be long and cold so I love to have things that bloom early. Winters here are apt to be cold , snow cover varies but we have chinooks in mid winter which tends to warm up and melt everything which is tough on the plants. Summers can be hot but not like south ern USA and low humidity. My pulmonarias do very well always planted in semi shade areas.
I have the opposite problem to pins - winter is more of an issue than summer.
c v v
Pulmonaria longifolia 'Bertram Anderson' Has done well for us... We did have it in dry not too fertile shade & it just sat there. Since we moved it to a more fertile soil, let it get established with watering, it is doing fine with a every two week watering, in our dry summer. It has grown & is a nice spotty leafy.
Mine are all situated in the shade or semi shade and do like well drained soil.I would think they would be great companions to hosta.
This one has done well for 10 years but can't remember which one it is.
Pulmonaria Mrs. Moon has been naturalizing in my yard for the last 20 years. It spreads by runners and ocassionally I find surprise ones that must be from windblown seeds. It likes moist shade here and will wilt and sulk in afternoon sun. I have 10 or maybe more varieties but many are only 1st or 2nd year and haven't really done the perennial 'third year leap' yet.
Victorian Brooch, Diane Claire, and Bowles Red have also filled nicely.
Here's a site to drool over
http://www.terranovanurseries.com/pages/ARTpulmonaria.html
I was just reading High country garden catalog, They are known for xeriscaping, They mentioned P. long.... Roy Davidson (Davison?) can't remember which. They didn't say anything about it being able to tolerate drought, tho.
I know my zone is a lot different from yours, but I have a very unusual situation in my back garden which may have some factors in common. It is in the shade ( and root reach) of some big leaved maples and cedar trees, except for midday when the sun shines straight down. Additionally, it is on a slope, with sandy soil so the drainage is instant. On the other hand, we are in BC, where it rains. Lots.
Pulmonarias love it here., that is the odd thng. I grow pulmonaria longifolia, rubra, and saccharata and several intermediate hybrids and species selections: Apple Frost, Bertram Anderson, Coral Sprins, Dora Bielefed, Excalibur,Margery Fish, , Mrs. Moon, Mrs Kittle, Opal,roy Davdson, rubra David WArd and Redstart, Sissinghurst White smoky blue, spilled Milk and Victorain Brooch.
I tried to grow several of these before in a much wetter garden, but shaded, and I find they did not thrive as utterly as they do here...
I need to go out and double check in case I don't have all of these, but a lot of pulmonaria inhabit my garden!!!
here is the foliage of a division -- not sure now & too dark to go check!!!
Boy, I didn't know there were so many different kinds! I know your gaden is beautiful. What do you grow around them? Also, where have you found the best place to get them?
Just found this thread and got a kick out of it. I use hostas to as a companion to my pulmonaria, rather than the other way around. I love them. I keep them out of any direct sun - no more than dappled shade. If they get too much sun they wilt. The first year or so they seme to need more water, then they'll tolerate pretty dry shade. They seem to like a humus rich soil. I put my chopped fall leaves around them every fall.
I have several kinds, with more on my wish list. I bought my first clump at the Cincinnati garden show about 10 years ago. It has been divided many many times and given to friends and family. That one little plant has "sisters" in Kentucky, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Iowa, and several in my own beds. I also have trevi fountains, apple frost, diana clare, roy davidson, spilt milk, rasberry splash, cool cotton, and a couple others that I'd have to run out into this morning's rain to check the tags on. I've never had runners on my Mrs Moon, but it self seeds occasionally. One thing I've noticed - they don't seem to be true from seed all the time. I've had a few that had almost no spots and one with white flowers. Maybe they're cross breeding?
pins - The longifolia varieties do better in the south, I think. Bertram Anderson should be a pretty safe bet.
I posted a trevi fountains pic in the the Blues forum.... http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=1622884
Thanks for all the great informationand the pic. I'm definitely going to try some longifolia varieties. I can't imagine them spreading, but love the thought. lol
sstateham, great photo of your Trevi Fountains in bloom. The blooms are long gone from mu Trevi Fountains, but here is the way it looks now growing under an apricot tree.
DonnaS
Pins
I get them wherever I see them (and whenever) They are really popular here, and a lot of people carry them, Sadly, I don't think my where to get will be much help to you.
I grow them all with the various bulbs that bloom at the same time; but I find I have to treat the different kinds a bit differently for later companioning. I am more given to colour harmonies than contrast, relying on bold shape and contrast to keep interest. And the very white spotted pulmonarias are a bit hard to fit into the larger garden picture imo. From here, even as we speak, I am looking down at a pulmonaria sticking out like a sore thumb. I like to combine these ones with silvery hostas, dark ferns and right now, japanese anemones. There are likely other things, but many of them want more water than they get back there. I think, for example that astlbe is really pretty with pulmonaria, but the astilbe don't like me. I do have success with corydalis, though, blue white and yellow and they have a nice ferny foliage that looks great with the pulmonaria, like lace under a heavy skirt.
Elsewhere I have some fall cyclamen blooming, and you just jogged my imagination about putting them near the pulmonaria, since at this timeof year they don't show their pretty leaves.
Margery Fish in at least two of her books raves about pulmonaria. that was what first started me growing them.
M
I have some fall cyclamen blooming, too. I sure wish they multiplied faster than they do. I love them, and they're so expensive!
I'm sure with you there. They do come from seed (as long as I don't accidentally tidy the babies up in spring!)
I have grown them from acquired seed as well, I belong to the Alpine Garden society, and they have a yearly seed exchange. Members get 30 free packets of seed and anyone who contributes seed beyond a minimum gets 60!
Its a lot of fun growing oddball things. Lots of fun info in the newsletters as well.
How beautiful! I'll have to check them online. It sounds like a great group. What other kinds of seeds have you grown?
I just checked it out and they're in England. What a shame.
This message was edited Sep 19, 2005 4:01 PM
Hi,no no no, not in England, here is the url http://www.agc-bc.ca/
Lots of members from the us.
here (copied from my files) is what I planted last year.
Actea rubra
Arisaema triphyllum
Asclepias incarnata
Iris innominata
Lilium canadense
Polemonium carneum
Aquilegia viridiflora
Ar consanguineum
Arisaema sikokianum
Centaurea pulchrrima
Cod grey wilsonii
Codonopsis ovata
Codonopsis ussuriensis
Cortusa mattioli
Epilobium fleischeri
Glaucidium palmatum
Hacquetia epipactis
Hedysarum hedysaroi
Hemerocallis minor
Incarvillea mairei
Inc zhongdianensis
Inula magnifica
Iris graminea
Iris lactea
Iris latifolia
Iris lutescens
Iris sintenisii
Lilium davidii
Lilium pyrenaicum
Nomocharis mairei
Paeonia obovata
Physochlaina orientalis
Trifolium rubens
Vitex agnus castus
Got to go get my daughter, I can dmail you the whole list later if you like -- just for fun, last years list, but would give you an idea.
M
Oh my gosh! I've got to join now. I'd love to see the whole list when you get a chance. Thanks for the link!
omg you must have a fabulous garden..is it open to the public????
thanks levilyla, and I wish, but most of the time its barely open to me!!! lol
When I say I planted all of that, it doesn't mean they have all come up!!!!
Too much sun, sometimes, too much absent minded gardener, more often, reduces the crop. But still enough comes, and I've done it often enough that I know to plant things (lilies, iris) that take a while to mature..
This is a really new garden, I only moved here 3 years ago, and there was a lot of earth moving and hardscaping to afford and then do. Got a lot of the earth moving done when we first moved in, cause the chief cost is getting the machine in in the first place; and that meant I bit off way more than I could chew in terms of bare earth aka weed red carpet,
I'm slowly getting on top of it, and really love it, thankfully plants have started maturing a bit and we just put in a terraced patio that is making a big difference. Next year the east side!!!!
inch by inch... isn't that why we have dreams??? (and seed lists)
Pins I'll send you the list tonight
M
newsflash!!
discovering to my horror that I hadn't kept the seedlist fromlast year, I went to the agc site and discovered you can access it by going to
http://www.agc-bc.ca/archive/2004-seedlist.asp
there is also another years seeds as well, so that can give you a really good idea of what is available. Seeds are accepted until mid October, I think and if you do indeed join now, you will be entitiled to share in the current seed exchange.
gardening has to be the only addiction worth having and sharing!!!
M
Wow! Those seeds are amasing! I'll definitely have to join. Thanks for the infomation.
I had a Mrs Moon last year but it did not come back this year. Does anyone have any kind to trade/postage?? I would love to have some more of these plants--several varieties if I can get them even. They are so lovely, easy to care for and I love the leaves!! Bonnie
I bought 4 Pulmonaria 'Raspberry Splash' Common Name: “Lungwort” in spring... little did I know the path I planted them in was going to end up being a river when it rained heavy.... we just bought the house and I didn't realize it....
well anyway... the leaves got all torn up and they are looking sort of dead.... any suggestions for care or do you guys think they are goners?
depends on how dead is deadlooking. I would dig them up, myself, see how the roots look (and smell) and put them somewhere else in any case; see what happens come spring. The most absolute looking corpses do revive, and after all, you have more chances waiting and seeing than you do if you chuck them.
tell us how it turns out!
One of them is actually popping up some new growth.... at least one of the four might make it... thanks for the advice
good news!!!
My mom gave me a pulmonaria 'Trevi Fountain' for my birthday in September. It's still alive, but I just went out and removed a LOT of dead leaves from around the bottom of it. It doesn't look good at all. It's in a pretty shaded location under our pergola, in very rich soil. I just love these and it's my first experience with pulmonaria, so I don't really know what the problem is, or if it is a problem or just that it's new to my garden and the time of year. I sure hope it will hang around for next year...
Ah,,,,,, the ever elusive Pulmonaria,,,,,,,,I call it that 'cause every one I have ever planted hasn't come back,,,,,,,this last Spring I had some slight new growth on one and then there it was,,,,Gone,,,,,,
So, this year I'm trying 4 more,,,,as of last weekend when I put some leaves on the beds, they looked great,,,we'll see how they come in Spring,,,,,,I just love them and am Praying,,,,,LOL
Kelly
My mom has just gorgeous ones. She has them in full sun. Go figure.
kb,
You have got to be kidding????? I have 2 of mine where they get afternoon filtered sun and they wilt like crazy,,,have to water the heck out of them. They will be getting moved in Spring tho.
I can't believe she has them in full sun,,,,like u said,,,go figure
Kelly
I know. But that woman has more than just a green thumb. She's always telling me that I plant things too close together, because 'they're gonna triple in size.' And I always say back to her, "In YOUR garden..."
LOL,,,,,,bet she gets a kick out of that
kbaumle I dont know what happens in warmer zones but I would expect my pulmonarias to start losing leaves in early winter. Right now they are looking pretty reasonable even though we had snow a couple of nites ago.
I have mine in areas that are mostly half shade in the spring when they flower and then almost full shade the rest of the summer when the trees leaf out.
We've been having a warmer than usual autumn. Only a few frosty mornings. We'll see what happens. Hopefully, it will be back next spring, stronger than ever.
I thought pulmonarias were evergreen.
*she said from zone 7a*
LOL. I don't know. I'm a pulmonaria novice.
The way they grow in my garden,,,I couldn't even tell ya what one looks like,,, and I've had several,,,,roflol
Kelly