Power Flower

I wonder if any of my readers are knowledgeable about flowers. If you can help me identify these, I'd be grateful.



Since early September I've seen these flowers growing around the Shinagawa/Oimachi area. The flowers are about two to three centimeters across (about an inch), and vary in color from a fairly pale yellow to a very deep orange...I believe that they grow darker as they mature. They look like very small hydrangeas, but I've not seen hydrangeas in that color scheme, and around the Kanto Plains (which includes Tokyo), hydrangeas bloom in the rainy season, generally around late May or June. These have been blooming steadily and profusely throughout the fall, and as of this morning can still be seen in various places around the area.

I didn't notice these in last spring's rainy season, and I'm pretty sure that I would have: they're pretty vivid. Even if they haven't been hanging around since May, they have been doing very well throughout the fall, and they don't seem bothered by the increasingly cold days, so they're pretty tough.

I've liked hydrangeas for quite some time, as I've written elsewhere, and these certainly look like hydrangeas, but the size, color, and time make me wonder.

It's Another Exotic Oriental Mystery, and if anyone can offer a solution, I'd appreciate it.