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Catherine and I have been wondering what "ajisai" is called in English. The flower that is currently blooming in Nagasaki is the hydrangea. (Catherine was right.)

The hydrangea is native to southern and eastern Asia, and North and South America. The greatest species diversity is found in China and Japan. They are shrubs 1-3 meters tall and can be either deciduous or evergreen.

Hydrangea flowers bloom from early spring to late autumn. The flowerheads contain two types of flowers, small fertile flowers in the middle and larger sterile flowers in a ring around the edge of each flowerhead. The color depends on the pH of the soil; acidic soils produce blue flowers, neutral soils produce pale cream petals and alkaline soils result in pink and purple.

Rhododendron, besides being a town in Oregon, is also known among gardeners as azalea. I know azaleas when I see them, I just didn't know they were the same thing as rhododendrons.

Rhododendrons are concentrated in the Sino-Himalayan mountains of Asia (Nepal and east China), North America and a few in Europe. There are a significant number of tropical rhododendrons in Borneo and New Guinea.

Most species prefer acidic soil conditions. They are noted for their clusters of large trumpet-shaped blooms and glossy oval leaves. Like hydrangea, they can be either deciduous or evergreen.

The rhododendron is the national flower of Nepal and the state flower of Washington and West Virginia and Sikkim in India.

All of this information was obtained from Wikipedia here and here.