Ugh, my comment did not read like I intended it to read. Sorry, pilarfish6. That is what happens when your dogs are asking for treats while you are on the computer! Hee hee hee. Picture this request: feed me, feed me, feed me because I am meeeelting... Ha! You gotta love them! Yes, you will have blooms by September. But Limelight first produces blooms with a lime color, which then turns white and finally, the blooms add a mix of pinks and-or greens as the blooms further mature. If your intention is to provide lime green blooms only, or white blooms only or late colors from late blooms then it becomes difficult to get the colors timed precisely. When the wedding comes, for example, the lime greens may have turned white or be transitioning to white and be a mix of colors. Or the white ones may have started getting blotches of green or pink. Sorry about that being unclear in the previous note. Mea culpa.

shazam, thanks! I did consider a smaller lilac too, but then don't they need full sun to bloom well? In terms of lilacs, how do you like the Bloomerang lilacs that rebloom? Mine in the backyard is finally doing OK, after 3-4 years but the blooms tend to be smaller and not as dramatic as the Korean lilacs... I am wondering if this is a common experience? In terms of evergreens, I do have a few there, like Calgary Carpet Junipers, a golden juniper, as well as a Weeping Larch, and now a Dwarf Weeping Norway Spruce. I also wondered about putting some evergreens there too, but what would do well and look good there with part sun? Prairie_northrose, I went to Lowe's today and got a couple of those 2 gallon Fire Light Hydrangeas today! The thing was, even though they were very healthy looking, they were quite small plants. On the other hand, the Phantom Hydrangeas that I found from Costco were pretty big already, even though they were in 2 gallon pots too. I think that Phantom Hydrangeas probably are just much more vigorous..... hmm.... maybe I should just return those Fire Lights???

Looks like sagging from too much water/rain (especially looking at the leaves). Trim the long stems to ~36" in the offseason they will become thicker year after year, to support upper foliage/blooms. Consider "mounding" the bed a little and raising the root ball a few inches if too much water is a potential issue. Here is close cousin Great Star. It's approaching 7' and a little sprawly, blooms bend over the stems after heavy rain. I'm going to trim to about 40" max (the fence is close to 48"). Should make for a fuller branch structure next time around.

Thank you everyone for taking the time and care to advise! Though I must say now I'm still a little confused about what to do. :-D I have read online to move plants early enough so that the root system re-establishes itself before winter dormancy, and then other articles about hydrangeas specifically that state one shouldn't move them UNTIL dormancy. That's why I thought I'd ask here. But it seems like there are folks having success either way, so maybe they are hardier (and/or heartier) than I imagine them to be, at least with the right amount of TLC. One other option I have considered is doing something similar to what hyed has done and prune and reshape the hydrangeas under the window, fronting them with some miniature boxwood type shrubs. But I would still have to end up moving two of them (albeit just steps away rather than several yards) because they aren't lined up and are growing out into our very small yard. I also spend almost all of my available time in the back yard gardening and playing with my veggies and flower beds, and really want to keep it that way. So I question how "good" I will be at keeping these shrubs a manageable size if they remain in the front. I really do think they would be great as a screen in the back yard along the fence line between my house and the neighbor's house, so my inclination is to move them and let them do their 10 foot spread with abandon there. One additional question once I've settled on the question of "when or whether" I should move them, is what kind of fertilizer do y'all recommend to help them along? Thanks a million!