Check the serratas. Blue Billow gets 2' by 3' in 10 years. But the Cityline Series is the one with probably the most compact shrubs. The Oakleaf and Paniculata dwarfs like Little Lime and Little Q are too large if you want to keep them at 2' tall. You can prune them down to keep the size in check of course but I do not know if you want to add that maintenance chore to your list of gardening things to do.

It maybe more of a regional thing but serratas do not stay particularly small in my area. Even Dirr, in Hydrangeas for American Gardens, indiciates most will assume a size of 4'x5' or larger.

Hydrangeas are just not very small shrubs. Your Cityline plants are probably the best choices for you. Or you can try 'Pia' (aka 'Pink Elf'). What I would urge you not do is to keep pruning them to keep size in check. You just run too much risk of reducing/eliminating flowering potential and that is really the reason to grow hydrangea at all. Plus, they just look a lot better when allowed to grow naturally and assume their natural size.

If hydrangeas just don't fit well in the area you intend for them, then perhaps you should be looking for a different type of shrub.

Thank you. For one spot I was considering a Baptisia. Not as extensive a flowering period but I don't believe those stay at 2' either.

Nope!! Mine is about 3' tall now and still elongating. And it was about 5' across last season.

Where are you located/hardiness zone? There are dwarf Abelias that only get around 2'x2' and bloom sporadically all summer. Plus they have great foliage as well.

Zone 6 or 6b. I will check out abelias. Not familiar with them.

Plenty of compact hydrangeas for zone 6. Cityline is fine, hit or miss with blooms. Most of what I will list will grow to 2x2 or 3x3 and then die back to the ground over winter. Most contemporary faddy ones sold in stores are bred to be compact. There are actually more compact ones than not. But, that's not helpful - lets look at prime color examples:

Lacecaps: Tiny Tuff Stuff, Edgy Orbits

Double: F&E Together

Blues/purples: Mini Penny, ES Bloomstruck, Rhythmic Blue

Pinks/Reds: Garnet, Glowing Embers, Firelight, Red Sensation, Hot Red Violet, Pistachio

Multi-color: Peppermint, Fantasia, Harmony, Ocean, Jade (all might get too big)

White: F&E Whiteout (no other common entries)

Thank you for the list. I saw some Deutzia in the Bluestone catalog that would fit the bill. But mopheads are so much more dramatic.

If the deutzia was 'Nikko' (the most compact deutzia I am aware of), it easily exceeds your size requirements.

I would suggest you take size information of any shrub with a grain of salt :-) Those typically only reflect size after a specified length of time, not an ultimate mature size. Depending on location and growing conditions, shrubs of any kind can often get much larger than their tagged size. They won't hit a certain size and automatically stop growing. Woody plants - trees and shrubs - never stop growing until they die.

Luis - Do you have any from the Cityline Series? I'm in Texas also and I wasn't sure if they were good for our area or more for northern gardens.

No, I do not have them but some look real nice, don't they? I usually buy them locally and have not seen them when I visited stores. But they should be fine for our area as long as you place them where the summer sun will provide shade by 11am-12pm. Of course, if it keeps raining as often, some extra expanded shale and-or lava may be useful. And some boat hookups may also help. Hee hee hee!

Bluestone Perennials has a huge online sale over Memorial Day weekend. They have a couple of Cityline.