A few clarifications here. 1. A larger pot size doesn't necessarily indicate a "large enough" plant. And this is known as a rip-off. Some nurseries (and Lowe's right now) try to sell 3-gallon pots with one-foot tall plants with three to four branches for $25+. Not a value. It's best to keep looking at as many nurseries and stores as you can visit until you can find a suitably sized plant. A decent 3-gallon potted panicle hydrangea should be at least 2-3' in height, not including pot, and have at least 10-20 significant branches on it, and it shouldn't cost more than about $35. I found a mis-priced 3-gallon Little Lime a couple years back for $15, and it was already 2' tall and had more than 30 branches on it. 2. Quick Fire is among the earliest to bloom (June). There are some others close to it (like Snow Mountain), but you'd need to do further research. The older Grandiflora blooms a bit later (~August), in contrast. 3. Paniculatas can technically rebloom, but the season isn't long enough to allow this. What you CAN do is delay blooming, if you like. Say you want Limelight to bloom in September instead of July. You'd cut the partially or fully-formed flower buds off just before blooming, and it'll take about 1-2 months to regenerate buds. Some people do this who have multiples of the same plant and want the blooms to differ in appearance depending on time of season. And other times it's a mistake, as I once witnessed a landscape crew knock 2' off a Limelight hedge, which delayed blooming unti September. (Quick Fire's budding is finicky, so don't attempt to delay blooming on that plant. Not all paniculatas were created equal.) This post was edited by Springwood_Gardens on Thu, May 15, 14 at 13:27

No, a color change suggests that the bloom is mature and spent. After several weeks, a white paniculata hydrangea bloom begins a progression of color changes that ends in a brown bloom, similar to the color changes observed in roses. If you lived in a southern location, you could try deadheading the bloom after it begins to change and see if you get new bloomage. Some paniculatas do that in the South but I have not seen anyone confirming that VS "reblooms" for them. Reblooming white mopheads (H. macrophylla) will produce new blooms if you deadhead the spent blooms but, I am not sure if they can grow in your zone/location because you do not have this information displayed. Normally, they have winter hardiness issues when planted in very cold zones. An experiment that just occurred to me: you might be able to lengthen the amount of time that it stays white if the shrub is relocated to a spot in brights full shade with no direct sunlight. Maybe. Just maybe that may lengthen the whites. The reason I say this is because of my Little Lime. Paniculatas Limelight and Little Lime have blooms that start green then turn white, a shade of pink and eventually end brown. My LL is located in bright, full shade so it never gets direct sun. As a result, I have noticed that the blooms stay green for a very, very long time. If Limelight is exposed to full sun conditions, the blooms turn white faster. But my LL did not get a-n-y whites the last two years (or maybe they appeared near the end of the Fall and I did not notice). My LL blooms went from green directly to a shade of pink. This year it seems to be going in the "same trajectory". The blooms opened in late June and, as of today, they remain green. So, I wonder if -maybe- VS blooms may stay white longer if not exposed to direct sunlight. You could try that and see what happens. Or maybe someone who already has VS in bright but full shade can chime in with their observations of how long it stays white under those conditions..

I grow and sell Annabelle, Samantha, and White Dome. I love them all differently. Annabelle for full sun, absolutely blowsy, beautiful flowers. Samantha in some shade. I get many flowers on Sam, and they do not flop like Annabelle, but are not as large. They are not hidden by the leaves, that may be a juvenile attribute. And the silvery underside of the leaves is pretty. And White Dome, maybe my favorite for part shade, so Victorian looking. And I love it's dark green leaves. No question Annabelle has the largest flowers, but I really appreciate the graceful look of White Dome. Hayes Starburst looks very pretty. But the pink one...........I don't know. Polly

ouch $$. I would suggest trying any hydrangea for a few years (maybe 3) to see if a troublesome thing goes away once it gets older and better established. In the case of too much flopping, I would prune all the stems down and start new ones to see how that helps... if any. And if not, composting sounds good! Hee hee hee!!!! Of interest, Bella Anna is no longer listed amongst the ES Series hydrangeas. They may have decided to drop it for whatever reason or the reason that you mentioned!!!!