I'm not aware of how hardy this particular variety is ... though, to be on the safe side, I'd wait until the ground is pretty much about to freeze and then hill it up well with dry peat moss or even just garden soil. Shovel snow upon it as soon as it arrives and hopefully before bitter cold has set in. Leave the trimming to spring when you can see just how much live wood has made it through. I've seen varieties such as 'Limelight' with varying amounts of winter dieback and it still blooms well on new wood.

Thank you very much, Jemboysch - I simply love them all as I tend to like the airy look of their blossoms. 'LL' is the only mop-like one of my H paniculatas & wished he maintained his 'LITTLE' blooms as claimed by original PW tag. In another thread, I posted my LL album & asked for ideas on taming, this not so LITTLE, guy of mine. The center of this nicely rounded bush shot up 10 hefty & tall canes that produced 10"-12" blossoms and the lower network of twiggier branches, loaded with 5"-7" lambs, splayed on the river rocks flooring ... not a pretty sight :(( ... tried as I did criss-crossing ties/stake, to hold them up, did not improve looks. Ego45 came to the rescue & posted ideas (said his own LL, behaved just like mine) ... 2 of his friends solved their similar dilemma - here is the thread subject in this forum, you might want to browse through ('08-'09 posts) Hydrangea Little Lamb in full sun? I just the other day, started pruning & am still doing it more (I was too chicken to do it drastically). 'Hope this helps! Good luck & a great season ahead!!! Â:) Ditas

The natural form of hydrangea paniculata Kyushu is somewhat open, vase shaped, tall. Best pruned in early spring, blooms on new wood. I normally prune paniculatas in Spring as the growth buds just begin to swell, cutting back to a pair of those buds - how far back is really your choice. Pruning will result in fewer but larger flowers...which can be a good thing depending on the effect you are looking for. Downside is that a summer rain can weigh those larger flower down, sometimes to the point of breaking stems.

I googled the terms "color changing hydrangea" and came up with several hits to Direct Gardening ads for such a product. Direct Gardening is notorious for promoting suspect plants with unbelievable descriptions, they fail to provide proper botanical names and they have a horrible reputation for poor quality and dismal customer service. The plants in question appear to be some form of paniculata, presented as both a shrub and in tree form. The flowers will go through a color change but nothing to the degree they describe. White flowered hydrangeas simply do not change colors other than the normal aging/fading process which varies from plant to plant. They will not turn blue, they will not turn "royal purple". They may very well start off as a pale greenish color, develop into a creamy or even pure white and then as the flowers age, fade to a soft rosey pink, which may or may not deepen to a darker color, depending on sun exposure, climate and specific cultivar. Be cautious of marketing ploys (well put, yg!) that offer extraordinary attributes - they are usually false or highly exaggerated. And for heaven's sake, if you are spending the money to order plants by mail order, be sure to order from reputable sources that provide the correct name and don't rely on marketing hype to entice consumers.