It has a late blooming habit. Although winter hardy for you, not recommended for a cold place with a short growing season.

From its description it seems to be very much like a BOBO?

My take on those two in MN: Bobo starts blooming about 2 weeks earlier and gets a little bigger. LH has better flowers, flower aging and overall tidy habit.

This Connecticut-based company advertises it to bloom in July or later: https://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/hydrangea-paniculata-little-hottie It is competition for Bobo from another source. Not sure if the price is better or not though.

Bobo starts blooming about 2 weeks earlier

So @pennlake, you do have a LH in your garden? Nice!

But later blooming for LH isnt so good as 2 extra weeks would take me well into August :(.

LH has better.....flower aging

I read also that it does well in high heat conditions which is a good thing. I have a spot, between two existing Bobos that I think I will fill with a "Hottie" and we shall see how it progresses; how it compares and contrasts with Bobo as it matures.

When looking for early blooming paniculatas, research if you might be interested in the Quickfire variants, Praecox, Magical Flame and Dharuma. I do not grow those last three though so, I am unsure how they compare to Quickfire. You may have to "test the waters".

Here in Twin Cities, MN, the earliest paniculatas I've seen start blooming very late June. The latest one I've seen is Tardiva which starts about mid-August. I appreciate the wide span in bloom times to be able to provide pops of bright white flowers dispersed through the garden. So as the earliest ones such as Quickfire are starting to age by late July, other varieties begin blooming.

I've also noticed hard pruning of them delays the bloom a bit which is another reason I'm mostly hands off with paniculatas except to remove the brown flowers in the spring winter did not remove.

Paniculatas seem to attract a lot of pollinators. Bloom of the fertile flowers seems to begin at the same time the sterile flowers start to show white color and lasts for about 30 days. After that it's seed maturation though the flowers on most will be attractive through frost. So again using the wide span of bloom times you could use the various paniclulatas as pollinator plants from late June through early to mid September.

And so I am really interested to see how soon our 3 Early Evolutions will bloom this season as it is sometimes advertised as The World's Earliest Flowering Panicle. :)

Earliest? hmmmmm. I think they were working on that phraseology on the same day when they said plant/tree will only get 5 feet high. Hee, hee, hee. Hope it is true though although not likely earlier than Praecox.

My take on those two in MN: Bobo starts blooming about 2 weeks earlier

You got me thinking@pennlake....so I looked back at pictures from 2021...a good season for moisture and our Bobos were in reasonably good bloom by the end of the first week of July and in 'perfect' (full) bloom by end of the third week

Here in Twin Cities, MN, the earliest paniculatas I've seen start blooming very late June.

I have my fingers crossed that in my location, "Early Evolution" will look 'interesting' i.e. show good blooms by......mid June at the latest. In the name of science, I will report back :).

So nice to see some hydrangea actions here in the middle of winter! LOL!

I cannot remember if I had told you guys that in the end, I moved my Bobo and planted them in a less conspicuous bed, next to which I have a group of Little Hotties! The Little Hotties were in the bed for the first season last year, and they were rather thirsty. I had to water them quite a bit last year to stop the leaves from drooping. The Bobo's impressed me that after I moved them, they adopted to the new location in no time and them bloomed their head off, though it was a bit late.

So this year, I will get to see how they two compare side by side when our growing season starts again (which is not until May or June!!! Sigh...).

BTW, my Little Quick Fire grew like crazy even though they were in the bed for the first season last year. I hope they do stay compact!!! LOL! We shall see :-)

From the descriptions that I have seen for LH, it seems to be a larger plant than Bobo at full size i.e. up to 5 feet all around.

“my Little Quick Fire grew like crazy even though they were in the bed for the first season last year. I hope they do stay compact!”

Oh,-oh. There goes another plant size estimate…

Bobo exceeds it's specs here in MN. Last big one I measured a few years ago was 54" Tall and 72" wide. I would say they are likely comparable in mature size.

6 feet wide!? Id sure love to see that "overgrown" Bobo in bloom as I am sure that it would be impressive.

We planted our first Bobos in 2012 (and we have 7 or 8 as a 'hedge'). I have no doubt imagining any one of ours to be 4 by 4 but the beauty of paniculatas is that they are so 'forgiving' when pruned.

I planted 3 LH back in May. They are now established and will bloom sometime this month.

Hi everyone,

Just an update on my Little Hottie! All 3 of them survived their first Edmonton winter LOL! But they are certainly slow growers and not that vigorous (which I had expected given their supposedly compact size). No sign of flower buds yet. Let me see if I like them when they are established.

Now, they still leafed out earlier than my Bobo's! Those guys are definitely NOT a winner in Edmonton, I hate to say! They may get shovel pruned in future... LOL!

Now, on the other hand, the Strawberry Sundae that I planted last year are coming back nicely and vigorously, and there are many flower buds already... I LIKE THEM so far!!!

and not that vigorous (which I had expected given their supposedly compact size)

And yet LH is advertised with a potential size larger than BOBO i.e. up to 5 feet in height and width.

From what I’ve seen of LH here (MN) it will take a while to get to 5 feet unlike some others that claim similar size. It will start blooming here the end of July so a bit on the late side

pennlake, going by how slow they are growing, and that there is no flower bud showing at all, LH may not be a winner here for me! LOL! Oh well, I should let them grow and prove themselves this season at least.... how could someone so impatient like me enjoy gardening so much!? LOL!!!

I planted three LH back in May. They were heatlhy specimens and with the consistent mositure we have had this season they did well in June and July and into August. I checked on them a couple of weeks ago and I am reasonably sure that they are dead! :(

It does bug me when 'this' happens ie an unexplained demise of a plant...especially a hydrangea. I will leave them as is and hope I see life next spring.

I think Strawberry Sundae died here in Texas too but am planning to wait until spring 2024 for signs of life too.