Hydrangea macrophylla 'Adria'
15th August 2013
About twenty years ago I started planting a corrugated sea of blue Hydrangeas under the shade of some trees - and
I am drawing a veil over the consequences (shortage of cash, poor choice of varieties, wrong location).
Not deterred, I started planting a new border in 2010 and only put in varieties that had blue flowers
showing. 'Adria' looked good when it went in but in 2011 it was disturbingly mauve veering rather recklessly towards pink.
Fortunately 2012 and 2013 have seen a return to form - I am putting the pink diversion down to the change
of soil when it was planted.
A compact plant raised by A.Steiniger in 1957 and part of a wave of relatively old varieties that are being eclipsed
by modern breeders. At least that was what I thought until I discovered that 'Fantasia', selected in 2003 and released in
2007 is a first generation seedling from it.