With its overflowing diversity of colors, the Ajisai garden captivates our hearts even under the gloomy skies of the rainy season. Mysteriously, Ajisai flowers lack the sweet scent of nectar that usually attracts pollinators. If they had a rich scent like that of roses, how enchanting would they be, together with the brilliant, ever-changing colors brought about by the chemistry of the rain water.
Flowers are reproductive organs designed for pollination. They are not meant to bring aesthetic pleasure to humans, but rather are equipped with various mechanisms to attract small pollinating insects.
Wild Ajisai plants grow originally in deep forests and along somber valleys, where the faint scent of nectar cannot spread widely and cannot be sensed by pollinators. If they had only small and inconspicuous flowers, they would not be easily discovered by pollinating insects.
Much of what we think of as petals—the blue, purple, and pink parts—are actually what are called "decorative flowers." Such decorative flowers are not petals at all, but are highly-developed conspicuous sepals that produce no seeds.
On the other hand, the small, inconspicuous flower in the center is a "hermaphroditic flower (true flower)" and this is the true organ where pollination takes place.
Ajisai spread large, eye-catching fake flowers to appear as a “cluster of flowers” in showy colors even from a distance and to guide insects to the small, true flowers in the center.
It is this magic trick for pollination that brings forth the colorful Ajisai flowers and presents us the joy of admiring them under the overcast sky in the rainy season.
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