From “Hydrangea serrata” in Hydrangeas: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden by Naomi Slade:
“A near neighbour and relative of H. macrophylla, H. serrata hails from the wooded mountains of Japan and Korea, where it is sometimes called ‘tree of heaven’. In the uplands, well away from the sea, temperatures often dip below freezing so, for garden purposes, it is noticeably hardier than its cousin….
“While the vulnerability of H. macrophylla comes from the length of its growing season, starting too early and going on too late, H. serrata has a much shorter growth period so it is hardier in the face of cold — although it is no fan of blazing sun.
“Like H. macrophylla, H. serrata likes partial or dappled shade so it can be used in a similar way in the garden. It is less tolerant of exposed, windy or very warm locations and it doesn’t thrive in wet soils, which makes it less suited to coastal and boggy sites. On the other hand, the plants tend to be smaller, at around 100cm (40in) tall, so are suitable for compact modern gardens.
“The species has lacecap flowers and serrated leaves — hence the name — and does well under trees. A number of cultivars, specifically Grayswood, Preziosa and Glyn Church will go through several colour changes throughout the season — but since they are not susceptible to pH, these are consistent in their inconsistency. The white cultivars will remain white regardless of soil pH, but the other pink and blue cultivars are moderately susceptible, so situations arise where, for example, Bluebird, grown on alkaline soil, will produce flowers that are noticeably pink.”
From The Windbreak Pine: New and Uncollected Haiku by Wally Swist, edited by John Barlow:
the deepening blush
of hydrangea flowers
late August chill
Hello!
Here we have the first of two posts featuring Hydrangea serrata ‘Bluebird’ — most commonly referred to as the Bluebird Hydrangea — from my garden. I have about six of these plants at a boundary between shade and sun in my back yard, where most of the time, they seem pretty happy. They bloomed well for several years running, then they got frozen and failed to bloom for one season, then this year returned once again. I always like to see them in early summer, and they look especially nice in late afternoon and early evening, when their white florets glow and the cluster of blue and pink flowers look more saturated as the sun goes down.
The part of this lacecap-style hydrangea that usually catches the eye includes both the cluster of tiny flowers at the center and the white florets that seem to float around them. Technically, only the lacecap portion contains flowers; the white florets are produced (the hydrangea tells me) to demand the attention of pollinators by providing some white-on-dark contrast.
These baby Bluebirds can be hard to photograph, and when I look at their photos from previous years, I see that I’ve often struggled to get the colors and focus right. Focusing at close range is difficult because the cluster of flowers may extend five inches or more from front to back, and the flowers in the cluster are extra-tiny, entangled with each other, and hard to differentiate in the camera’s viewfinder. And they move easily in the wind, making my eyes wobble.
Examine, if you like, the first two photographs, and you’ll see what I mean: the foreground white floret is in focus as are some of the blue flowers, but as the distance from the camera increases, the cluster of flowers becomes blurrier as do the two background florets. If I use a narrower aperture, I can get more of the flower cluster in focus — but then too much of the background also ends out in focus and it becomes difficult to separate the flowers from the background.
As you move through the galleries below, you can see how I handled that: by either moving in closer and eliminating many of the wee flowers from the image; or by moving back and taking a wider shot, where the fact that some of the flowers are out of focus becomes less apparent. I have sometimes tried adding LED light or using a flash, but then they look like they’re studio portraits rather than nature photos. So while I wasn’t entirely satisfied with these images, I decided to post them despite being unable to achieve perfection — whatever that is!
Thanks for taking a look!
Really beautiful!
Gorgeous