Treat them as rooted cuttings, which they obviously are. I used to buy them that way and grow them into blooming, saleable size, which for most, was 2 years. Occasionally, would receive a cultivar that took it's sweet old time growing up, but that was an exception.
Don't oversize the pot, that tends to retain too much moisture. Better to water more frequently than have a dead waterlogged plant. Use a mix that remains moist, but is well drained. I use sand. perlite, pine bark fines and sometimes chert to mix with a mostly sphagnum peat potting mix. Protect from sun and wind for the first year. After they stabilize in their new surroundings, which often takes only a couple of weeks, I begin fertilization with a water soluble 15-30-15 application, full strength,once a week. Be sure to water before applying fertilizer to avoid burning the roots. This is continued foe 3-4 weeks. The following year, I repot to a full gallon container about March and many will produce a few blooms that season. I have a number that were rooted last year that now have one or two fresh blooms.
If a mac only produces a single tall cane during the first year(rare, but does happen), I cut it back to sbout 1 ft. after blooming and usually will have multiple canes the second year. That is the only pruning I do, except to take cuttings for propagation. That doesn't apply to the unruly paniculata's!
Rb

"That doesn't apply to the unruly paniculata's! "

LOL!!!

Thank you Razorback, that's just the kind of info I was looking for.

Just to clarify...can I use my usual Miracle Grow potting mix as it seems to contain most of the elements you mentioned? (except chert, what the heck is chert?) and can I substitute time released Osmocote beads for the liquid fertilizer and still get the same result? Don't want to take any shortcuts if it will sabatage the results. I've been waiting a long time to get these puppies......yg

Oops...one more question....When you buy the 2", they send two of each. Should I pot these together in hopes of forming one larger plant or should I treat each cutting as a seperate plant? Thanks again.....yg

The MG PM that I use is composed primarily of milled sphagnum peat, with a very small amount of perlite. I add ammendments to promote drainage and to modify the pH. The use of Phosphorus(P) in the form of soluble phosphates to promote rapid and healthy growth, is greatly diminished at a pH7. I don't use Osmocote, because the 6 and 9 mo. formulation only contains 6-7% orthophosphates(P) and 17-18% N. The 3 mo. type, 14-14-14,would probably be a better choice, but is not readily available here. At your ambient temperatures, it's effective time release period would probably be diminished by 0ne-third, at least.
The word "chert" is a little used term, especially in the South. It is a crushed, very hard rock, like flint and was once used as a coating on asphalt road surfaces to increase traction, especially in the midwest, where I grew up. I tend to use it to define any of the available crushed stone.
IMO, I would treat each rooted cutting as an individual plant and pot them seperately. There would be less root competition and each plant would establish a full branching structure.
Rb

I think I've got it. Can't wait to get started...Thanks sooo much again for the thorough instructions.....yg