I pulled out a slow-growing kind of hawthorn after several years because it never got over being topped to fit in the box. The grower had trained it to have a tree shape with a clear stem and elevated crown and then the seller shortened the elevated crown to get the tree to fit in the box, thereby effectively destroying the merchandise at time of packaging (because this particular kind of tree was not any good at restoring its shape with any expediency - the remaining horizontal side branches continued as before but the response to the topping was a cluster of weak little twigs from beneath the cut). I of course paid more for this too-big-to-fit-in-our-boxes size, again only to have it deformed and spoiled. I would have gladly bought a cheaper one but they offered only the one size.

I can't beleive I did that! The other post should read have, not wanted! I bought this beautiful "tree" 3 years ago, and now it stands about 15'high. Every summer it starts flowering in August and won't stop till there is hard frost. The nursery told me that it is not really a tree at all, but that because it grows bark, you can prune it to grow like one. It can also be trained to grow up a fence or a trellis, and butterflies and bees love it. I have grown plants successfully for 3 winters now, and it is so easy to grow. The flowers look like this: http://www.tedlaredesignbuild.com/Products_Offered/Shrubs/images/HydrangeaUnique.jpg if you'd like to see exactly what the tree looks like, I'd gladly email you a picture of it in bloom. Any takers need just look at my wish list...

Hydrangeas develop a root crown from which all the stems originate. As such, there is no "trunk" per se. A leader is eventually selected from the stems to become the so-called trunk instead. Because of this, tree form hydrangeas are USUALLY not grafted... (but anything is possible).

Once the blooms turn brown or turn a color that you do not like, you can deadhead the spent blooms. My deadheading preference is to let the spent blooms fall on their own and deadhead any stragglers in early spring. As for pruning, I stay away from pruning (1) at times when they begin to produce flower buds in late spring or early summer, (2) when they are actively blooming in the summer or early fall, or (3) in late fall as pruning might trigger new growth that can get zapped by early frosts. Your average date of first frost is around the 3rd-4th weeks of October so you might be able to prune if the paniculata is an early blooming cultivar whose blooms brown out well before this first frost date.