Tom Velardi
June 20th, 2009, 03:03 AM
Something you may not see everyday, wild hydrangea. Here are two forms of the widespread and variable H. serrata. The Japanese call hydrangea ajisai. They are a beloved flower in this culture and some gardens are given solely over to them.
A form from Nagano Prefecture on the island of Honshu is called 'kurenai' because the flowers are a true, deep red (kurenai). The flowers start out pure white and after a week or so they turn red - the more sun they get, the redder they become. This red color appears to be fairly independent of the acidity of the soil.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/KurenaiAjisaiWHL.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/KurenaiAjisaiCLUPFLS.jpg
This next one grows in the local mountains. It is the more typical blue flower form.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/WildBlueHydrangea2.jpg
These flowers are not your grandmother's hydrangea - each flower cluster is much smaller (no bigger than the palm of your hand) for starters. Also, they possess both sterile bract-like flowers and smaller fertile ones as well. While this is a common feature in this genus, many of the horticultural varieties of H. macrophylla lack the fertile flowers.
They are easy in the garden, perhaps even stouter than the horticultural forms. They tend to get leggy, therefore pruning is best early in the season to get an nicer shaped shrub. The garden soil here is decidedly acidic, so all my ajisai tend to turn purple/blue over time - I think next year I'm going to lime them to see how they respond. Cool little plants!
A form from Nagano Prefecture on the island of Honshu is called 'kurenai' because the flowers are a true, deep red (kurenai). The flowers start out pure white and after a week or so they turn red - the more sun they get, the redder they become. This red color appears to be fairly independent of the acidity of the soil.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/KurenaiAjisaiWHL.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/KurenaiAjisaiCLUPFLS.jpg
This next one grows in the local mountains. It is the more typical blue flower form.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/WildBlueHydrangea2.jpg
These flowers are not your grandmother's hydrangea - each flower cluster is much smaller (no bigger than the palm of your hand) for starters. Also, they possess both sterile bract-like flowers and smaller fertile ones as well. While this is a common feature in this genus, many of the horticultural varieties of H. macrophylla lack the fertile flowers.
They are easy in the garden, perhaps even stouter than the horticultural forms. They tend to get leggy, therefore pruning is best early in the season to get an nicer shaped shrub. The garden soil here is decidedly acidic, so all my ajisai tend to turn purple/blue over time - I think next year I'm going to lime them to see how they respond. Cool little plants!