Hi Whaas, thank you so much for the response, it's great, too, that you are also in Wisconsin. I will take a look at the Tickled Pink. What is it about Tickled Pink that makes you recommend it so highly (I saw that you recommended it to another person, as well...) Does Quick Fire get cut to the ground each spring or does one leave it alone? I cut my Annabelle hydrangeas to the ground every spring. Last year, I did an experiment and left them all uncut, but I did not like how they looked quite so much, so decided that cutting was for me. I also have Endless Summer, which isn't the greatest performer, so I have it in a spot that doesn't matter how it does...that one, I just clean up once it has leafed out and I can see what is live and what isn't. I think I am going to give the Quick Fire a try...if you think it's a rockstar, that's good enough for me! They are only 8.99 on sale at Shopko right now, $20 if I'd go with the 3 gallon pot, but it seems like they grow so fast anyway, that I'd be better off saving the $.

They tend to shed some bottom foliage in the hot summer months, especially if bought now and planted in the hot summer months. Their root system is not that big so, monitor the soil by inserting a finger into the soil and watering -the soil, never the leaves so they do not get leaf spots- if the soil feels dry or almost dry. When watering, use enough water to get the soil moist at a depth of 8". It is quite rare for it to have small blooms as it normally blooms very early in the summer months so enjoy those few blooms. If they dry out and turn brown then so be it. Do not panic and let it simply use the nutrients to develop a larger root system instead. Make sure that the plant has 2-4" of organic mulch at all times, which will conserve soil moisture and provide future nutrients as the mulch decomposes. I would not fertilize it anymore and instead, wait until after all danger of late frosts has passed in spring 2022 to feed it again. All paniculatas are deciduous so it will eventually lose foliage in the fall 2021 but it will leaf out back in the spring 2022. Since the plant is not yet accustomed to getting this much direct hot sunlight (it was probably in part shade the plant nursery), consider providing some temporary shade in the afternoon and-or evening.

Thank you. I don't really care about fall color personally. The long cones of things like strawberry sundae I don't find attractive as I rather prefer the domed shape of Annabelle if she just wasn't so aggressive to take over real estate even after I thought I removed her. I also saw one photo that had a row of fire and ice and they looked a very blah shade of pink/beige and the florets were spaced far apart to make the scene all the worse.. Perhaps it was just a moment between two attractive colors, but it made me wonder what others have experienced. I look forward to any photos.

I will echo Luis's comment about size - yours are really too close together, so this might be an opportunity to move one or more. I have a regular QF that started as a small rooted twig, and 4 years later it was 5' tall and wide. It seems to have pretty much settled in at 6' in all directions or perhaps a hair more. When I've seen various H. paniculatas that have been pruned, they grow most of the way back to full size in one season, so to my mind it really isn't a plant that one can readily control size on via pruning. It's one of my favorite plants, blooming for a full 4 months starting white just before Independence Day, and in August beginning a slow color change which ends in early September as a bright cherry pink that lasts until a hard frost, usually late October here. I also grow clematis on mine, so it's a shrub with a lot of bang for the buck! I leave the dried flower heads on as ornaments in the winter, removing them most years around now. Next time on the bird seed, you might consider just pulling them or chopping them off down at ground level when young with old-fashioned wooden handled hedge clippers if they are dense. I tend to reserve Glysophate (generic RU) for things I can't easily remove via other methods, such as poison ivy or invasive shrubs such as Asian honeysuckles, buckthorn, or barberry (of which I have literally thousands). Where possible I drip undiluted herbicide on cut stumps since it is unfortunately easy to hit plants I don't want to damage with overspray. If spray is needed, a bag temporarily over the plant you want to protect may help, and set the sprayer for large drop size since it will land more where you want it with less drift.