What a great find! Where did you discover it? Reminds me of an unknown hydrangea that I have; it was supposed to be Nikko Blue but turned out to be a lacecap. It is blooming now and resembles the one in your photo:

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Posted by luis_pr z7/8 Hurst TX (My Page) on Mon, May 20, 13 at 18:48

Yeah, they do look alike in the picture. The original picture was taken in Japan.

You went to Japan? Oh wow!

Posted by luis_pr z7/8 Hurst TX (My Page) on Mon, May 20, 13 at 21:08

You have to like chopsticks, seafood, fish, squid, etc. Bring your own fork if you cannot use chopsticks.

The pictures from both JuJu and Louis are outstanding, and I love them both. Wish both of you were nearer to me so I could I could take a clipping or two to try and start the plant. The purple colors are so royal and exciting! What is the name of this plant? Thanks again to both of you.

you are way ahead of me in Virginia-just beginning to see a bit of hydrangea color. The cool Spring here has been unusually cool so we are 10 days to 2 weeks behind.

The hydrangea from Japan is Hydrangea aspera. Beautiful. There are a number of subspecies and cultivars sold in the US. I'm wondering where is Japan was the picture taken?

luis_pr, yours looks like hydrangea serrata, also beautiful and also native to Japan, as well as, Korea and China.

Monrovia is selling a new Hydrangea aspera called Hot Chocolate with darker leaves. Nice looking plant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hot Chocolate

I would have said this an aspera as well although that species is NOT native to Japan and the photo is of an obviously natural setting. Perhaps there is enough cross border transport of these plants that asperas have naturalized on the islands.

FWIW, Monrovia's colored leaf aspera introduction is 'Plum Passion' - 'Hot Chocolate' is an intro from a Belgian grower. The plants look virtually identical!! It should also be noted that asperas are not a very hardy species of hydrangea, listed only to zone 7.