I bought 3 Starlights last year (2 - 1 gallons & 1 - 5 gallon). They all three died to the ground, but all three have buds. The 5 gallon atleast has 25 or more buds and my 1 gallons like yours has 3 to 4 buds each. So to answer your question I would think in maturity they will do quite a deal better as they mature. All my more established rebloomers did not die to the ground due to the mild winter we had. The first winter out of the nursery they always seem to die to the ground no matter how mild of winter you have. How big of Starlight did you buy?

i'm pretty sure it was a 3 gallon, but i'm not 100% positive. it had five buds when i bought it, but i pruned it back a bit to encourage branching, and pruned off two of the buds. i figured it was no big deal, because it was a rebloomer, so i assumed it would form new buds. i'm a little disappointed that i may not get more this summer, but i'll keep my fingers crossed for next summer. hopefully it will bloom more as it matures.

I bought mine last July as a 2G plant full of buds in a different stages of development. They all bloomed till fall, but new buds production was not observed.
I've learned not to make any conclusive judgement based on a first two years performance and will continue to keep my eye on it.
It overwintered so-so (in comparison to ES), however right now it has 5 or 6 buds in almost blooming stage and another 7 or 8 in a different stages from a pea to kids fist-size. It has a lot of lateral growth and seems like it wants to be more wider than tall.

Haholic I bet you will defentily get more flowers this year. Mine continued to rebloom all last year also like ego's. But the 5 gallom far out preformed they other two smaller ones put together plus some.

I completely agree with ego to not pass judgement for 2 or 3 years. Have to let them settle in and grow a proper root system. Also agree about the wider than taller growth. I like it and think that it makes them unigue. Expecially in our zone where our choices are more limited on Macrophylla Hydrangeas. They also have a very light green foilage that tolerates the sun better than most rebloomer macs in my yard.