'Mrs. Moon' is hardy to -46 degrees F. and, like all the Pulmonarias, has a long blooming season. (Some years mine bloom for several months.) Compared to some perennials, they aren't fussy; they don't care much about soil types or PH, but need full or part shade and moist soil. (They won't tolerate soil that dries out, so trying to keep them in small pots is a bad idea.) As if these weren't enough qualities to make a plant truly lovable, lungworts are easy to care for and easy to propagate.
Relatively disease and pest free, they're not the kind of plants you need to patrol for aphids or whiteflies. Slugs don't like them much, and they're even deer-resistant! Mildew can be a problem with the older varieties of Pulmonaria though; avoid overhead or nighttime watering.
In my shaded beds, I like to combine lungworts with spring bulbs and other old-fashioned perennials; crocuses, scilla, and daffodils planted throughout a bed of Dicentra (Bleeding Heart), Aquilegia (Columbine), Ajuga (Bugle Plant), and Pulmonaria is a favourite scheme of mine; I really like the combination of pink, blue and yellow. You'll often see lungworts sharing beds with hostas, as they share similar cultural requirements and such striking effects can be achieved combining the different foliages.
If you visit Terra Nova Nurseries, you'll see that there's a host of exciting new Pulmonaria hybrids that have been recently introduced or are about to be introduced; the days of going to your local nursery and having to choose between only two or three varieties are long gone.
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