ACOLLEAGUE of mine celebrated her birthday last week, and one of the gifts she received was a book by a well-known gardener talking about her favourite plants.

As a gardener myself, I often get asked what my favourite plant is, and the answer very much depends on the time of year that I’m asked.

Of course, there are new ones discovered each year which wow me for the season with their striking colour, interesting form or intoxicating scent. These will often get pushed aside the following year, when I get the seed catalogues out and discover the next allsinging and dancing must-have plant of the season.

But there are definitely quite a number of favourites that I wouldn’t be without and that I look forward to seeing each year. More often than not, I will try to find new and unusual cultivars of these plants to add to my collection.

One such plant, which is just about starting to come into its own with its welcome spring blooms, is Pulmonaria. The meaning of the name Pulmonaria refers to the leaves which were said to look like the human lungs, and Pulmonaria officinalis is a variety that would have been used to treat lung-related illnesses.

There are, however, several different species within the genera, all with different characteristics and uses.

These range from the purest of white, pinks and deep inky blues, but often the flowers start off one colour, pink for example, and end up blue or purple as they age, therefor having several varying shades on one plant.

The foliage is also attractive and variable, most having paler green or silver spots on the leaves, some are just slightly spotty. Others can be almost completely silver, these look particularly good in a shady spot complimenting hostas and ferns.

Pulmonarias are easy and reliable plants to grow, they prefer a damp spot with a little shade. In these conditions, they will flourish untouched for years; however, they will be quite happy in a sunny spot, only suffering slightly in prolonged hot dry spells where they can develop powdery mildew on their foliage.

This is not too damaging to the plant and looks more unsightly than anything else, but can be easily solved by shearing off the foliage to ground level and watering generously. By doing this you will encourage a fresh spurt of uninfected foliage to spring up within a couple of weeks.

I find them useful in extending the season of interest on the Winter Walk at Harlow Carr, where they are combined with winter stems and early flowering spring bulbs such as iris, Galanthus and Eranthis.

The Pulmonarias become the final explosion of colour, ending months of interest, which started way back in the autumn with the changing colour of the leaves.

A bit like hydrangeas, which is another of my favourites for later in the year, I am more partial to the blue and white cultivars and three of my favourites are Pulmonaria angustifolia Blue Ensign, Pulmonaria officinalis Opal and Pulmonaria saccaharata Sissinghurst White.

The Blue Ensign is probably one of the most readily-available and most popular and it’s appeal is well-deserved. As the growth emerges in early spring it is a deep reddish purple, this fades to a deep green without any markings as it matures. This is the perfect foil to set off the flowers, which are the most intense deep blue, unmatched by any other flower I can think of.

The Opal is another cultivar with an unusual shade of blue flower. I would describe it as ice blue, and the only other flower I can think of to match this shade is Scilla mischtschenkoana, a beautiful early spring bulb.

Unlike Blue Ensign the foliage of Opal is heavily marked with silver spots, to the point of being almost completely silver and looks great all season in a shady spot.

The Sissinghurst White is like Blue Ensign in its intensity and is probably one of the whitest whites of the flower world. The foliage is mid-green with a few silvery white spots. I do find this one to be a little on the delicate side and so regular lifting and dividing does help to keep it vigorous.

All in all, I would say that Pulmonarias are valuable early-flowering perennials, bringing colour to the garden when other perennials haven’t even begun to shoot, and in many cases the evergreen appearance has a presence in the garden almost all of the year. What’s also great is that this is the perfect time to buy and plant them and I know that Harlow Carr plant centre has some in stock this minute

Harlow Carr Diary Dates

Rainbow Magic for Easter Easter family fun, including craft, trails and live performances by the Harrogate International Youth Festival on selected dates. Until April 14

National Gardening Week Ever thought of diversifying into horticulture as a career, or want to find out more about the different plant societies? Come and share in the RHS’s knowledge at Harlow Carr, where activities, talks and tours will be running on selected dates – please check the website. April 15 -21

Strawberries for Wimbledon Plant and take away your own strawberry collection from our selected assortment of cultivars, which will hopefully give you fruit for the Wimbledon fortnight. April 6, 10am-2pm RHS Members £30, Non-members £35. Call 0845-612-1253 to book