hmmmm...The foliage color and shape look very similar to a Serrata Hydrangea I just bought. Does it look like there might be several stems coming up from what might be one plant? There are numerous varieties of Serrata Hydrangeas, so if that is what it is, you would have to see a bloom to determine exactly which one it is. Sue

Here are the blooms up close and the buds. It has a cluster-flowering habit and its buds are pointed. The bloom in the first photo is one of the older blooms it had when I bought it. I've also counted the petals to be at least 21+ and they seem to look a bit ruffled.

Definately not Plantaginea...doesn't look like it at all, Plantaginea doesn't bloom until August, and it has huge fragrant flowers. Definately not ventricosa...which has shiny green leaves, isn't blooming yet, and has purple flowers. Probably not Tokudama...which has a rounder, more puckered and cupped leaf...and the flowers are generally not much higher than the foliage and often have a tinge of lavender in them. Like Ken said, there's a lot of variation in sieboldiana, and this is probably just one of its forms since it looks very similar, the flower is very similar, and it's blooming at the same time.

One of the above images suggests S. greggii `Raspberry Royale', but the upper hood is the same color as the lower lip. S. greggii `Diane is more of a red-purple, with the upper hood a bit bluer. The blue-red balance on these images makes it difficult to identify particular varieties via digital camera images, especially through the web. Color monitors have to be set up for color balance. This is usually set up in absolute degrees (Kelvin) to relate to the black-body radiation temperature. The lower the temperature, the redder the tint, and the higher the number, the bluer the tint. Ambient light and the age of your monitor also have an effect. Try matching the colors to the two color charts below