You can still prune if they haven't totally leafed out yet. Obviously, if they have set bloom buds, it's a definite no go....yg

hey, yg, I was wondering about the same. My Limelight is getting a bit big and I would like to prune now, but it is almost fully leaved out. How do I tell if it has bloom buds? Or should I really just leave it alone?

Boy this is strange....Here in zone 9, my Limelight is just barely starting to leaf out. (and this is EARLY for this plant in my yard) I have cut it at this stage many times, even moved it, and still get plenty of new growth and blooms albeit later in the summer. Yours, having leafed out so much earlier, it's hard to say exactly what the cutoff period should be. Technically, the "instructions" are that paniculatas can be pruned in fall, winter, & early spring. Depending on your climate, early spring is subjective. However, bloom buds are easy to spot...as with other hydrangeas, they look like little nodes (loose elongated little broccoli heads) at the ends of a new stem.

Disclaimer: When in doubt..as always...leave it be.

Thanks, yg! I know, isn't it strange that in my zone 5/6 area, my Limelight has leafed out completely? I guess it must be really happy where it is in my yard! :-) Even my Annabelles are completely leafed out! My Little Lamb and Quick Fire are doing very well, too. The slower ones are the Pinky Winky and Pink Diamond. Sadly, my Snow Mountain tree appears to be DEAD... sigh...

Anyway, I think that I probably will just leave my Limelight alone then. I don't see any flower bud but I don't want to take any chances... thanks again!

For the record,
QF in full sun exposure already have 2 flower buds, the same QF in part-sun though is fully leafed out has no sign of buds as of today.

To my and very unpleasant surprise, 7 or 8 y/o PG have a lot of dead branches this year. For whatever reason she is way behind of all paniculatas this year, even the Tardiva.

George, my QF is in a full-sun location but it does not seem to have buds yet... I guess you are in a warmer zone than I am. I can't wait to see the blooms!

My only hydrangeas that seem to have buds now are the Claudie and Homigo, both of which are in containers.

I have a Tardiva tree that looks half dead. Literally - half of it has leaves and half of it has nothing. What happened? Should I just leave the dead branches or what? Is the rest of it going to die off too?

The Annabelle is fully leafed out and did quite well - it has runners or shoots coming up out of the ground around it (not sure what those are called). Can I dig those up and transplant them?

The Endless Summer is coming up surprisingly well too. Last year it struggled, but it was the first year planted.