There is nothing quite as striking in the spring woodland garden as the lungworts. You would think these durable early spring bloomers with attractive foliage would be grown everywhere, but alas no. Perhaps with a name like lungworts, it's no wonder that few folks put these on their plant grocery carts. Pulmonarias hail from a native range encompassing much of Europe and into Russia. In the wild, they usually grow in deciduous woodlands.
Some species prefer moist sites, while other species are from drier regions.
Herbalist have long decried that when a plant resembles a particular body part, it must have medicinal properties to cure that particular part of the body. Hence, the continued use of pulmonaria to treat many respiratory ailments. Pulmonarias consist of several commonly grown species, P. angustifolia, P. longifolia, P. rubra, P. saccharata, P. officinalis, and P. vallarsae. Pulmonarias are perennials that grow from a basal rosette, usually no more than 6-10 inches tall with a slightly wider spread. They flower in very early spring, usually beginning around the end of February.