BLACK DRESS WITH FLOWER

Hydrangea is a genus of about 70-75 species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia and North and South America. The flowers are extremely common in the Azores Islands of Portugal, particularly in Faial, which is known as the "ilha azul" due to the vast number of hydrangeas present on the island.

Most are shrubs 1-3 m tall, but some are small trees, and others lianas reaching up to 30 m by climbing up trees. They can be either deciduous or evergreen, though the widely cultivated temperate species are all deciduous.

Hydrangea flowers are produced from early spring to late autumn; they grow in flowerheads (corymbs or panicles) at the ends of the stems. In many species, the flowerheads contain two types of flowers, small fertile flowers in the middle of the flowerhead, and large, sterile bract-like flowers in a ring around the edge of each flowerhead. Other species have all the flowers fertile and of the same size.

In most species the flowers are white, but in some species, can be blue, red, pink, or purple. In these species the exact colour often depends on the pH of the soil; acidic soils produce blue flowers, neutral soils produce very pale cream petals, and alkaline soils results in pink or purple. The blue center of the flower was produced after one application of a 10% Scott's Miracle Gro which has a pH of 5.4 (acidic).

EXPLORE, #149, on June 13, 2007

Hydrangea Photography

JOIN ME ON google+