Summer conditions can vary widely in Zone 6 across the country so I think it depends. Also what kind of soil you have.

I live in zone 4 on the plains with sandy soil. I keep all Hydrangeas, including paniculata types, out of full afternoon sun for best performance and flower longevity in the summer. I still have to irrigate during dry spells.

Odd's are you will not have a sun issue with paniculatas in northern half of the country. But one thing is for sure... if it does get sun scorch, you will not be the last person that has ever had to transplant a hydrangea elsewhere! Join the club!

They do just fine here with no supplementary water other than that I provide with a hose in late July and August. Irrigation would be a luxury to them.

Planted 3 LL in my front yard last summer. They get full morning sun until about 2pm. They seemed to doing great. Water with just a hose....

Up north, you can place LL in full sun but further South, like down here, you cannot; have mine in full bright shade although morning sun and afternoon shade will also work. But hey, adding a drip system is a good idea... although it can be expensive for some so, adding that system depends on how much rain your LL's location gets and needs. If your location cannot supply enough rain water via rain or your soil is sandy and drains too well during the driest part of the year then water by hand, use a soaker hose, a drip system or a regular system to water it. In my area, where it is very hot and dry in the Summer, I use drip irrigation on my LL. But not only that, once temps hit 100 daily in July-Sept, I have to manually water because drip twice a week does not soak the soil of water-intensive shrubs as well as watering by hand. So, I manually water those hydrangeas and camellias once a week too, until temps moderate below 100 in September. Non-water intensive plants do not need this extra hand watering and seem ok with just drip and mulch.

LL and even regular Limelight are good shrubs. You should be happy with that selection.

By the way, you did not say so where are you at?

I just planted several Little Limes in full (southern exposure) sun. I had Annabelles in their place last year and it was too much for them to flower nicely even with consistent watering.

It will probably be too early to tell this year, but I will try to remember to report back in the future. My average high temp. is around 90 degrees in July and August.

I also planted some Little Limes on the East side of the house, as well as a Limelight on the Northwest corner. I'm curious how they will react in comparison to one another.

Plantings on east and north facing walls will usually do fine. And if they get afternoon shade, they will be even more happy.. But normally, in the northern half of the country, they do just fine in full sun locations. It is just that, down here in the extreme South and hot areas, the leaves suffer in May-Sept so afternoon shade is de riguer for me.

Generally speaking, both arborescens and paniculatas handle sunny locations very well, with paniculatas having a slightly better edge. But oakleaf hydrangeas will do better than LL and Annabelles in drier scenarios.

Enjoy your LLs, Luis

I have three LL in my 6b full sun (7+ hours a day), south facing front yard and they are doing fine. I am also not a big one for watering all summer. The newer pistachio hydrangeas seem to be much more impacted by the full sun than the Little Limes. The pistachios will droop when the heat is over 85 and they get thirsty, but the LLs, while only two years old are doing well, with little or no drooping in the sun and heat. I do nothing with any of them in the winter for protection either.

Liz Gallardo, Little Lime is a H. paniculata and so is far more sun tolerant and far less thirsty than Pistachio which is a H. macrophylla. LL and other H. paniculatas don't need winter protection anywhere but in the very coldest zones since they are far hardier than H. macrophyllas and aren't bothered by late spring frosts since they bloom later in the year.