Hydrangea macrophylla ' Izu no hana'
This hydrangea was discovered about thirty years ago in the Izu Peninsula, in Japan (its name means ‘flower of Izu’). It is undoubtedly one of the most lovely and distinctive Japanese hydrangeas belonging to the species Macrophylla. The leaves are dark green, shiny, with conspicuous veins. The inflorescences bear fertile flowers grouped at the centre and sterile flowers on the periphery: the two types of flowers rarely touch each other. The sterile flowers are made up of three or four layers of sepals and are carried by long, elegant peduncles. The colour of the inflorescence depends on the pH of the soil: in an acid soil, a wonderful violet will be obtained, whereas in a neutral or slightly alkaline soil, the colour will be a more or less intense pink.