All of my limelights, my Bobos, my vanilla strawberry, and my macs have buds and blooms. I am zone 5.

Mine are forming buds. But they're in various stages, so they will be blooming continuously all through July and into August.

Often new plants need a full growing season to get roots growing so the plant can support blooms. As the saying goes, year 1 they sleep, year 2 they creep, year 3 they leap. Gardening with anything with a longer life than annuals is a lesson in patience (not one of my strong points.) You could plant some annuals in the area for this season, and next season you will see more flowers on your H. paniculata 'Little Lamb' and probably 'Limelight' will take off the following year. For now you can give them a good layer of an organic mulch such as chopped leaves or wood chips to reduce weeds and help retain moisture.

Thanks everybody! I guess patience is the key.

I planted my LL last year and it is just starting to form buds here in NoVA.

My established Little Lambs have some buds, but I haven't noticed any on my Limelights yet.

Thanks ked1985 amd ruth_mi. I guess I may still have some hope. BTW ruth_mi you didnt tell us which zone you are in.

Little Lime started its broccoli phase about two-three weeks ago down here and blooms opened about a week or more ago. However, I would expect things to happen latter if your are in MA.

QF is just starting to turn pink. Fire and Ice is close behind. Great Star has a couple small flowers already but the large ones are still forming. All others are beginning to form now as well. Snow Mountain normally flowers a little early, but since the tree form was flattened by deer it has shot up 6 big canes from the ground which are already 5' Tall and will likely form up to 20" tall panicles by August. Will pic it all!

Due to the moderate severity of the winter, lots of macs are actually on the same pace as the Paniculatas, which is odd, but makes for a showy July!

For Purple bird and ruth_mi, here are directions for adding your zone so that it shows up in every post like Luis's and Springwood's posts just above.

Go to Your Houzz in upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums along with a link to find your zone.

If you add info on your state or the nearest large city you will get even better information since zone only relates to average coldest winter temperatures.

Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.

Ha - my zone used to show in gardenweb and I never realized it didn't here. I'll fix it!

I was in the garden tonight and realized that my Limelights that are in almost-full sun and weren't pruned in the spring are budding. Others aren't.

My limelight is just beginning to form buds now, I'm in zone 6b.

Finally saw buds on the little lamb - but no signs of buds on the limelight. Trying very hard to be patient :)

I bought 2 limelights in April. Both were about a foot tall in 5 gallon buckets. They are now about 3 1/2 feet tall and both have at least 15 gorgeous blooms on them. I have them planted along a fence line, under a large scarlet oak which receives some dappled sun. I'm in zone 9 - Sacramento suburbs.

Shedthechrysalis, with a description like that, I want to see a pic or 4!

Purple bird - I find Limelight to be the most consistent-blooming of the panculatas I have or have had, and over the broadest range of conditions. There are no guarantees with first year plants, but my guess is that you'll have blooms! The Limelights I pruned in early spring are for the most part not showing buds yet. There are some, but I suspect they're on the branches that didn't get pruned. And these are shrubs that are covered in huge blooms later in the summer.

My limelights are now literally a week away from being smothered in blooms. They are also the last of my hydrangeas to bloom. Bobo and Vanilla Strawberry have been in bloom for 3 weeks. Limelight not only blooms late but has stems that have yet to enter the broccoli stage, so you get blooms at different stages, which is great because you get differing colors from summer through fall.

Finally a couple of buds on the lime lights. I am overjoyed and cannot wait to see those gorgeous blooms. Thank you everybody for all your inputs

I just bought a limelight hydrangea 3 weeks ago and I just started seeing green little buds on some spots how long does it take to turn into a bloom?

When the flower buds open, they look like little broccoli heads. Since this is a newly planted hydrangea whose root system is not established yet and it was planted in the middle of the summer, it is hard to predict. Keep the soil as evenly moist as you can to a depth of 8". Water early in the mornings (6-8am) from the base outwards in all directions. Insert a finger in several watered spots after a while. If the soil feels dry, use more water. A staring amount might be 1.5 to 2 gallons per plant per watering. Maintain mulch 2-4" (but no rocks) in order to limit soil moisture loss. I would expect to see some wilting episodes but as long as the soil is evenly moist, they should appear perky in the morning. If not, there was not enough water so water them right away.

If the broccoli heads or flowers begin to brown out, the plant is aborting the flower for lack of enough water, excessive temperatures, too much sunlight, very windy conditions, etc. If that happens, make sure you are watering enough, the plant has enough mulch and water when the soil feels dry at a depth of 4" (that is where hydrangea roots usually are). I use outside chairs, umbrellas, cardboard, etc to provide temporary respite from afternoon/evening sun in Year 1.

This thread is five years old!

My Limelight(s) are budding but in more shade than some other paniculata(s). My Phantom, P.G., and Bombshell are in full bloom for at least a week, maybe two.

Phantom with the right side more leaves than blooms due to the remaining Okame cherry tree left standing.

Bombshell and P.G. and an Okame cherry trying to come up from the base (which I cut down two years ago).