It's strange, but I have every shrub you are referring to, so I hope my experience with these shrubs is helpful. I have a PeeGee Hydrangea tree, it's about 5 years old, and it is gorgeous. However, because the blooms are so full and heavy, after getting rained on, most of the flowers will droop down. There are ways to prune the tree so that the branches get stronger, which I have been doing, but I am not seeing much improvement. For more information you should look at the Hydrangea forum. I also have 2 other types of hydrangea trees: a Pink Diamond (also has beautiful and large blooms, but they are less dense, so they are lighter and they do not droop after rain, and the white blooms turn a pretty pink as they age), and a Limelight hydrangea (these are more similar to PeeGees than the Pink Diamond, but they seem to be less prone to drooping.) My PeeGee and my Pink Diamond are on the north side of my house (zone 5, Michigan), and they do very well there. I wonder if your southern exposure will be too much sun for them. My Limelight is on the south side of my house and it is doing well there. And I've read that Limelights do well in part to full sun. I've seen snowball viburnum standards, and I think they are gorgeous! I know they do well in full sun because I have a bush in full sun and it's growing nicely. I also have a Merril magnolia (which I think is similar to Stella) on the south side of my house. It produces fragrant white, daisy-like blooms in early spring. It is not a fast grower, and it seems like it would be easy to keep it pruned to the size you want. However, this shrub, like other magnolias only stands out in the landscape in early spring, after that, it is kind of boring. So, I think if you want something eye-catching, for a long period of time, the best choice for you would be a Limelight hydrangea tree. The flowers last from early summer through fall, they don't tend to droop, they are easy to prune, they like full sun, and the flowers start out a beautiful greenish-white, then they turn all green. You may want to look at the Hydrangea forum, it includes alot of information about the various types of hydrangeas.

Hello, chrisinflorida. Your aim should be to keep the soil moist. A way to do that is to water when a finger inserted to a depth of 4" feels as if the soil was almost dry or dry. If it feels moist or wet, leave it alone. Re-check this way when the temperatures change by 10-15 degrees and stay there. Apply 3-4" of mulch to conserve moisture. It is best to water the soil early in the mornings (do not water the leaves in order to keep fungal leaf problems in check). Some of my bare root roses have bloomed on their first year but others have waited until year two. So, I never expect blooms from a recently planted shrub. But if I get any, that is great. It is best for the plant to recover from transplant shock and get established in your garden. Bloomage should be a lower priority. Wilting should not be an issue this time of the year. Watch out for leaf wilting as summer temperatures arrive. In my zone, summer is too hot for PeeGee so I would plant it where it receives dappled sun or some morning sun instead. Hydrangea leaves suffer from too much sun here so I try to shade them beginning at 11am, approx. I prefer to plant my hydrangeas about 1/2 to 1" higher than the surrounding soil.

Study this plan slowly before you proceed. Rapid growth usually involves using nitrogen rich fertilizers, that is, fertilizers whose NPK Ratio has a large N Component compared to the PK Components. It also requires a "hungry" plant, like roses, that quickly react to fertilizer applications. Hydrangeas are not heavy feeders like roses. But applying this type of fertilizer can keep your plant in growth mode when it should be going dormant in the Fall. And if caught in growth mode by early frosts, the plant could be damaged. Have you considered instead starting with a large shrub to begin? You could look for a plant nursery that sells large/tall hydrangeas. This would require directly calling the plant nurseries (or contacting a local landscaping company) because I do not recall seeing information about especially large/tall shrubs for sale in nursery websites.

While this shrub has the ability to get quite large - see George's (ego45) photo above - it is not going to happen in any great hurry. Most of the photos you see of very large PG's are of plants that are 30-40-50 or more years old. 8-10' is a much more typical size in most gardens although in ideal conditions it will grow larger. And since paniculatas bloom on new growth each season, they are very easy to prune to keep to a more manageable size. PG (or pee gee - cultivar name 'Grandiflora') is known for producing very large inflorescences, maybe the largest of the species, and by pruning and thinning on a routine basis, these can be encouraged to an even larger size.