On a six-foot high ball-of-a-bush, the branches are positioned in tiers, shelf-like layers. The blooms rest on these layers, very close to the leaves instead of being suspended some distance above them. As a result, as you approach this plant, the spring display doesn’t appear gaudy like many others. Instead, it looks like a shrub covered by creamy-light-green pedals discarded by another plant. Each bloom is a cluster of tiny buds on a flat circle about 4″ across. The outer edges of the flower bloom first and then continue to open from the outer edge inward as the season progresses. I think it’s a variety of non-native hydrangea the city had the good sense to plant at the millpond.
[...] as shown in the top photo of a Burning Bush and an unidentified Hydrangea (left) I’ve photographed in full flower [...]
[...] are strategically placed to give them room to open while the tinier inner buds fill in the center. Once in bloom, the precise goes awry a bit, but delightfully [...]