Common name: Lacecap Hydrangea, Mountain Hydrangea, Sawtooth Hydrangea
Botanical name: Hydrangea serrata var. acuminata Family: Hydrangeaceae (Hydrangea family)
The Mountain Hydrangea is sometimes listed as a subspecies of
Bigleaf Hydrangea. The specific cutting-propagated cultivar
'Bluebird' (or 'Blue Bird') is an heirloom shrub developed long ago in Japan
from a Korean variant, H. serrata forma acuminata, the Mountain Hydrangea.
In 1960, 'Bluebird' was honored by the Royal Horticultural Society with the
Award of Garden Merit. It often remains in the three by four foot range as a
mature shrub, but its ten-year size can be as much five or six feet height, &
a full six feet width. It blooms as long as from June to November without
interruption, July through August certainly. Mountain Hydrangea is made up of a
center of tiny dark blue fertile flowers, surrounded by large sterile petals
of palest bluish-purple. It is bluer in acidic soil than alkaline, but it's
fairly blue in any soil condition. As insects pollinate the fertile flowers of
the center, they turn their petals to reveal pinker reverse side.
Occasionally listed as a vine, it's hard to imagine this compact rounded shrub
as a vine, but the main stems do often bend & twist. If it were trained to an
espalier beginning when still small in size, it could be given to the
appearance of a six foot tall climber. Growth rate is moderate to rapid.
| Photographed in Imphal, Manipur. |
Identification credit: R.K. Nimai Singh
|
ntroduced