The redbuds are nice. Cercis canadensis 'Hearts of Gold' or 'The Rising Sun' are great. While visiting Michigan in July, I seen Cercis canadensis 'Hearts of Gold' first hand for the first time. I must say I never thought much of it while searching the internet. It's a nice tree! I've purchased one for fall planting. Cercis canadensis 'Hearts of Gold' (picture taking at Duvall Nursery, Michigan) I always wanted a Robinia pseudoacacia 'Lace Lady', 'Twisty Baby' because of the cool contorted branches. Well I purchased it two years ago, and I've hated it since. I live in Southern U.S., so it may be hardier here. It grows like a weed! It grew about 4 ft in every direction the first year. I pruned it extremely hard back to the trunk. This year, it has grown 6 feet in every direction. I can handle the very aggressive growth because I enjoy pruning for shape. The main issue is the suckering. I have black locust shoots popping up 4-8 feet away from the trunk in my surrounding bed. I'm constantly removing them. Earlier in the summer, I missed a shoot from below the graft site. I was waiting until fall/winter to remove it because it was too large, and I tried to prevent making a large cut during the harsh summer conditions. Well...What a mistake! Now the shoot is a 1.5 inch caliper (almost as large as the main trunk) and 8 ft tall Robinia pseudoacacia covered with thorns extending straight up. I'm removing the tree this fall! I think it might be larger than what you're looking for. Other slow growing maple considerations Acer pseudoplatanus 'Esk Sunset' Acer campestre 'Carnival'

I planted one around this time last year. It currently resides in the middle of a hot sunny spot in the front - and although we've not had much sunshine but ample water from the early spring rains, it's barely broken dormancy. I did give it it plenty of winter protection by building the sides up with wood chips - and it did survive the winter but to tell the truth, it looked way better this time last year when I planted it than it does now - I think I will be moving it to a more sheltered location closer to the house which also give part sun/part shade during the day. The annabelle hydrangea's at the neighbours thrive in dappled sunlight amongst the very tall pine trees - so I'll be adding pine needles to boost up the acid in the soil where-ever it's next location is...but it's not staying in the full sunshine in the middle of 'nowhereland' in the front yard much longer - it's headed for dappled sunlight and surroundings closer to some established shrubs/trees or even closer to the house to aid with winter protection - far away from the harsh amount of snow and wind that whip across the front yard. Best wishes on your pee gee doing better than mine - wish I had thought to post your question last year before I planted mine.

Hmm, I see them "showing their feet" now (common in some paniculatas) but in this case, that is because the plants are young. In time, the stems should lengthen and bend down due to the weight of (new) blooms and due to the weight of tons of more stems on top of the existing stems. So eventually, more time/growth and the bloom's weight would help "cover their feet". Not in the winter, mind you, but I would expect this type of summer look if you do not prune: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/38843615508005409/

Welcome to the New England forum. What a lovely yard you have! I will start by saying that I don't grow this variety of Hydrangea paniculata, though I do have 3 other selections (White Diamond, Pinky Winky, and Quickfire.) I also have put some thought and planning into screening certain views in my garden, so hopefully I can contribute something useful. IME new plants take a bit of time after initial planting to get to their ultimate shape. New plantings are putting much of their growth energy into establishing roots their first growing season. Your plants look like they are also blooming well, and IME H. paniculata varieties establish quicker than many other woody plants, so you will probably see additional vigorous top growth this coming season and thereafter. I'd wait until after the third season to decide whether they will provide the screening that you want. There is a PeeGee down the road from me that is out in the open on all sides like yours, and I will take a look at it next time I go by to see how close to the ground it wants to grow. A couple of comments about your inspiration photo (IP) vs. your situation: How sure are you that the IP is actually PeeGee? There are a bunch of different varieties of H. paniculata with somewhat different overall size; branch stiffness; blossom color, shape, and timing; and each has a slightly different look. Your photo is a bit too fuzzy to my eye to be sure which it is. Your planting situation (open on all sides) is a bit different than the IP, which is backed by other plants. This has two potential effects on the H. paniculatas in the IP which could give them a different appearance than yours (but might not given a few years of growth.) First, this type of Hydrangea prefers a lot of light and the IP's backing of taller plants may be causing the hydrangeas to reach forward and weep a bit in its effort to get more light. Second, since there is more than one layer of plants, any gaps are covered up by the plants in the background. So, what can you do? You can be patient and see how they fill in once they really get growing. You may find that given a couple of years that they do what you want without any other planting since they naturally have an arching branch form. H. paniculata responds well to hard pruning once established, and you could cut them back to below where they are currently sending out leafy branches to get them to branch out lower. This would leave you without screening for a bit when you did this, however, though they will grow back quickly (a couple of months). Or you can do what I do when I want really dense screening; I plant 2-3 layers of plants so that any gaps are filled by other plants. So, you could plant some mid-sized perennials or lower shrubs to fill in the lower gaps of your PeeGees. To make specific suggestions that would be successful we'd need more information such as whether you are willing to plant on this side of the split rail fence and how much room there is on the other side of the PeeGees before the pool deck seating area, amount of sun, and compass direction of the view from the photographer to the pool. However, I've seen photos of Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle in front of H. paniculata, and there are a number of other possible plants that might work here to provide another layer to fill in gaps if they remain. Here are a few blog posts from a Detroit area designer, Deborah Silver, that may give you some ideas. (Her favorite Hydrangea, Limelight, is another H. paniculata, so much of what she says about them would apply to your PeeGees.) Designing with Hydrangeas and here are photos of Annabelle with Limelight (fourth and fifth photos): Hydrangeas and some more photos of the same garden. You can see how having more than one kind of plant (in this case two kinds of Hydrangea) and more than one row can make for a dense planting, since I think this is just a year old. The H. paniculatas will get much taller while Annabelle will top out at 4'. These two both have info on pruning H. paniculatas Let's Talk Pruning A Second Look at Limelight Despite what she says about pruning H. paniculatas, I never prune my H. paniculatas. Here is my 6 year old Pinky Winky which has never seen pruners other than to remove the spent blossoms on the branch tips from the previous year each spring, and it is completely full all the way down to the ground. It's about 8' tall. I think that PeeGees tend to be a bit more fountain-shaped than either Limelight or Pinky Winky.