Ajisai comes in various colours - white, pink, blue, purple, red.
I was told that the colour changes during its blooming period. Yet, I read that the colour depends on the soil composition and pH. Alkaline soil, meaning pH above 6, will produce pink flowers, whereas an acidic soil, with pH below 6, usually produces blue flowers.
Ajisai is written in kanji as well: 紫陽花, purple + sun + flower.
Because it changes the colour, it is also called nanahenge 七変化 seven + changes + flower.
I received a comment from a special friend in Japan, and I am posting it below:
ReplyDelete"There are many kinds of Ajisai, Hydrangeas in the world. But I think that their ancestor has came from 'Gaku-ajisai' (Hydrangea macrophylla f. normalis) in Japan, the trees was brought to European countries in the 18th century and they were mated 'Gaku-ajisai' breed with another for many generations. As as a result many kinds of Hydrangeas were produced in Europe. After that Japanese people reimported
them from Europe.
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'nanahenge 七変化' is wrong to read, 'Shichi-Henge' correct.
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Please refer to the following web-sites
URL: http://www.botanic.jp/plants-aa/ajisai.htm
URL: http://www.botanic.jp/plants-ka/gaajis.htm
"
Thank you for the interesting information, Masatomo-san!