Miss Lucinda, I don't know how far along your spring is, but if you will still be getting any freezes, it's MUCH better that your 'PeeWee' wait to leaf out. Frosts are a major killer of new leaves and of flower buds. If the cambium layer, the layer just under the bark, is still green - scratch gently at the bark and see - then the shrub is still alive and will leaf out when it - and the ground - is warm enough, hopefully avoiding any late frosts. Generally, most newly-planted shrubs spend their first year in the ground growing a good root system - very few flower heavily, if at all. That the leaves stayed small is somewhat worrisome - did you water it deeply, with the equivalent of an inch of rain per week? If not, then it may have been lacking water. Be sure to keep it watered this summer, and in dry spells next year as well, and it should, if still alive now, be fine. Mulching, as widely as possible, no deeper than 4" and no mulch in the inch or so next to the trunk will help with evening out fluctuating moisture levels.

Hi - No experience to report yet - just planted an Hp - a 2010 intro called *Tickled Pink* claimed to be a compact 5x5 though wider than your requirements ... perhaps more experienced Hp growers can input on pruning to size possibilities. This cultivar is a creation Of Dr. Dirr, grown & marketed by Bailey's of MN ... got it for the *compact* claim! (7 other Paniculatas are the larger ones). I agree w/ laceyvail - Oakleaf may need some protection in our similar zone & woods are a bit brittle (my Pee Wee split in half due to piled snow). For a front garden bed Hp's blooms offer Winter interests! I have 3 Oakleaf Hs & have been lightly protecting these past 3 yrs, 'til fully grown (did not bloom last year) ... but they are in the backyd ... awesome Fall-foliage-colors! Hope it helps & Good luck on your choice!

HerabalBetty, Thanks for chiming in. Wow, that is amazing growth in a few years time, even with the deer browsing it. Is it as full at the bottom as it is at the top? Does it spread by runners like a lilac does? What I read says it blooms only on new wood, does that mean that the majority of the blooms are on the top of the shrb and the lower portion is fairly free of blooms? I don't want the base of a shrub that large to look like a vase of flowers if you know what I mean. I appreciate your input. Thanks Thyme2dig, I believe at full size the Pink Diamond is supposed to be about 6x10, a 4-5' x 8-10' shrub would be perfect. The continuous perimeter length (circumference?) of the garden is some thing like 200 ft., this is for sure a case where size matters! It will take a lot of them to form a hedge that long and the cost, depending, could be phenomenal! Pink Diamond is a bit taller than I'd like But I thought that I could probably trim it in late winter while it's dormant since it buds on new growth only. I think that should work. Someone tell me if I'm thiking this all out wrong, please! I have grown Spirea "Gold Mound" when I lived in zone 5 and it was a fabulous shrub. I had around 25 of them encircling my pergola/patio. They looked so smashing with the deep red climbing roses that grew on the pergola. "At this house I have Spirea Jap. "Magic Carpet". They are hardy enough to hang on every year but they have not grown more than 6" in over four years now. If I knew I was getting on that had some growing power and would be zone 3 hardy I buy it in a heart beat. I'll go search the Spireas some more. I'm sure that many more have come out since I last took a look at them! Oh, BTW, the Blue Muffin was long coveted by me. I got one little panicale of Blue seeds before it to croaked. The seeds on that are a LOT darker than they've colorized them in the catalogs. MeMo

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