Pulmonarias/Lungworts are among the first perennials to bloom in my garden every spring. The flowers are certainly pretty, but pulmonarias are most prized for the beautiful mounded foliage that remains attractive all season long. I always cut old foliage in July for a burst of new growth. Pulmonarias tolerate morning sun, but need afternoon shade to avoid leaf scorching. They are perfect companion plants for astilbes, hostas, and other shade-loving plants. Pollinators like them as well. Another positive (for me, anyway) is that the deer hate the fuzzy foliage and leave the plants alone.

Pulmonarias are good front-of the-border plants as they only grow about 12" tall. Plant them 20-22" apart as they happily mound up with time. They are hardy little characters that thrive in Zones 3-7 and do just fine in normal or clay soil.

I grow three Pulmonaria varieties -- 'Raspberry Splash' (spotted foliage with magenta and purple flowers), 'Silver Streamers' (silver/white foliage with pink flowers that turn blue), and 'Cevennensis' (thinner foliage with blotched leaves and midnight blue flowers).

Watch out for this plant! While it may look dainty and smell deviously fragrant, it has aggressive, unmanageable behavior. When I was a gardening newbie, a 'friend' gave me a tiny kiddie-shovel full of Lily of the Valley for my shade garden. What an epic mistake! Lily of the Valley has these invasive underground runners that spread out of control and get tangled up in the roots of the well-behaved perennials. After twenty-five years of digging Lily of the Valley roots out of my flowers, I am still trying to eradicate it. Every year when I think I have completely removed it, a survivor shows up.  It has even popped up in the grass outside of the flower bed. Aargh!

This plant may be good for erosion control, far away from flower gardens, but to this day I still shudder when I see Lily of the Valley for sale at garden centers. I mean really...should you spend money for this kind of aggravation?

Picture courtesy of Pixabay

I don't keep many hostas in my yard simply because there is not enough shade for them. So I'm very picky as to which ones get to stay. 'Inniswood' is one of my keepers. I love the chartreuse/gold colored leaves with the deep green edges and the thick, crepe texture. My Inniswood gets about 3 hours of sun each morning, consequently it colors-up quite nicely. In deeper shade this hosta would have more green tones. I also like that this hosta is slug resistant and it's a moderate grower that doesn't have to be divided constantly. Huge plus!

Inniswood thrives in Zones 2-9 in just about any type of soil. It's a nice border plant that grows approximately 24" tall. In summertime, I typically cut the flowers stalks off my hostas before they bloom. I like the look of the leaves without the flowers. If you don't cut the stalks, the fallen flowers can stick to the leaves like glue after a rainstorm and make the plant look untidy. In late fall I trim the foliage about 3-4" from the ground. Inniswood is planted close to our house and I don't want any critters calling it home during the winter.

I added a couple of photos so you can see how I pair Inniswood with companion plants in the border. The chartreuse color looks especially nice with the 'Palace Purple' Heuchera (Coral Bells) and the 'Raspberry Splash' Pulmonaria. The ground cover shown is 'Beacon Silver' Dead Nettle.

Check out this cute miniature hosta. 'Stiletto' can grow up to ten inches in height, although mine typically stays around eight inches tall.  It is perfect for the front of a shade border. Dainty purple striped flowers appear in summer, which I remove after the bloom. Stiletto can be used as a singular plant as seen in my garden photos, or it can also be allowed to spread and used as a showy ground cover. The narrow, ripply leaves with a small creamy-white margin are a nice contrast when used as a companion plant. My plant gets about three hours of early morning sun and it tolerates that amount with no problem.

I've had Stiletto for many years, but I periodically divide it to maintain the pictured size. I recently divided mine in half. Unlike most large established hostas, it divides quite easily, and without the use of a saw :)

Usually when I visit Roger and Carol (Eastbrook Gardens) I'm all about their daylilies. But last time, when I stopped over on my way home from work, I was completely bowled over by this insane hosta Roger grows named Jurassic Park. What a grand specimen plant! When I took this photo, I placed an oak leaf on the hosta to give you a sense of its size.

Roger planted this hosta in a flower bed and over time has had to move most of what was growing in the near vicinity to make more room for this bruiser. He joked that the entire flower bed may one day belong to Jurassic Park. The leaf substance is so thick that slugs are nonexistent. Mature leaves can measure up to 14" x 16" wide, and the plant itself can grow up to 4 feet tall by 6 feet wide. With abundant watering, this hosta can grow even larger! So, if you happen to have a L.A.R.G.E. space that is screaming 'hosta!' Jurassic Park is the way to go.

Well, okay - yeah, I did manage to look at some daylilies...

Pictured are: 'Entwined in the Vine,' 'Highland Pinched Fingers,' 'Concrete Blonde,' 'Free Wheelin', and 'Fear Not.'

Shade is at a premium in my yard, so I'm very picky about what hostas occupy the little that I have. If I could only have one hosta, "June" is the one I would choose. June is stellar. This hosta is small-to-medium sized  (12-16" tall x 30-36" wide) so it is perfect for the front of the flower bed. Not only is it sun tolerant, but it is incredibly slug resistant. Each leaf is unique and it colors up depending on how much sun it is exposed to. My June (pictured) gets morning sun, so it looks yellow-ish and green. When grown in complete shade it looks dark green with darker green margins. The leaves are waxy and thick, plus I love the crepe texture they have. June gets purple flowers in July, but I have to admit that I cut all the scapes off before they flower. In my opinion the scapes/flowers take away from the tidiness of the plant and the beauty of the hosta leaves.

June was awarded the American Hosta Growers 'Hosta of the in Year' in 2001.