Paniculatas are vigorous, upright, rapid-growing, somewhat coarsely textured, deciduous shrubs but this particular variety is slower growing. My sister has only one and it too has been slow to grow more than a few inches in two years. The blooms are quite nice though. It is supposed to get 6-10' tall (less in places with a short growing season; more in places with a long growing season) in around 10 years or so.

Eventually the hydrangeas will get wider and the peonies will form clumps, so you may need to add 2 feet or more of spacing eventually. Not tremendously difficult - just pull back the mulch, dig new holes and drag the root balls over and replant! Or use old holes (depending). Both enjoy full sun. Transplant peonies in Fall only!

Breanna, I hope you don't mind my honesty, but I am not feeling it. I think that:

1. It will be too crowded there

2. The peonies and hydrangeas both have large leaves and when the peonies are not blooming, you will be left with a sea of green there

3. The straight edge could be softened up by a gentle curve, but then I can't see the whole thing so it's hard to judge if the straight edge is too harsh or not

In our climate (we are both in zone 3, Canada!) we may have a very late show of flowers with the hydrangeas. How about something with some early colours and that are lower to provide some interest earlier in the season? That may not be flowers, but perhaps even something like some shorter, colourful foliage plants to add the colours? Heurcheras? Brunneras?

Our climate is harsh and it's not easy to add colours! :-)

Hope you don't mind my honest opinions....

Thanks everyone! Yes they are rediculously slow growing! I think they have grown 2 inches in 3 years! Reason I put the peonies there was because j really had nowhere else to put them and I thought they would add spring color and then the hydrangeas will bloom later. I did have annuals along the front last year for additional color but haven't done that this year. In the early spring that bed is covered in tulips. I may dig them out and give them away this fall. I would love to put hostas in front but it gets full sun. I was also thinking lavender, love the purple color. I have attached a photo from last year

The last photo is of my entire front yard this spring

Breanna, you have a pretty front yard!

I would certainly consider doing a curved line there, as you already have a nice curvature with the other bed. It will soften things up quite a bit there.

As for spring colours, I am with you there. How about some early blooming dianthus? That will add some spring colours and the contrast in textures and heights will be nice next to your hydrangeas.

Thanks you! How would you curve it? Like a wavy curve? Would you put the dianthus between the hydrangea? My original hope was for it to form a solid hedge with only hydrangea and then add something In front of it for contrast. But it's taking forever for them to grow!

Never mind! I was thinking dianthus were something else. Yes that would be pretty!

Breanna, I think that you have done a great job with the wavy curve for the other bed! If you could do something similar to echo the other wavy curve for this bed, that would be very nice. But at the end closer to the side walk, perhaps bring the curve over into the lawn, so that you will have a nice rounded shape to the lawn near the side walk, then I think it would looks smashing.... do you see what I mean?

I love my dianthus because they bloom earlier and they have a long blooming season too! It would look very nice as a solid row of colour in front of the taller hydrangea shrubs :-)

Yes I see what you mean. We were planning on extending the path So it curves to our driveway at some point so I thing I will bring the bed around so it meets the end of the path by the driveway. It will be like a half moon then at the end. Thanks for the suggestion! So would you continue the full hydrangea hedge all the way to the path? Or put something else there?

Looking at the entire yard in the second-to-last photo . . . Right now your bed lines sort of echo the shape of each bed's back side rather than what makes the most sense aesthetically. Each part of the yard (2 beds and lawn) doesn't really relate to each other. I would look at the grass, which is a small area, as a wide path, with the beds filling in around it. I'd make the grass a single long curve, either convex or concave or S, rather than wavy, and have both sides the same, perhaps 5' wide all the way back to your tellis into the back yard. That would give you the room to put your peonies along the front of the hydrangeas, which will make more sense long-term since the peonies will ultimately be shorter than the hydrangeas, and then have annuals in front of them for at least part of the distance. Or you could cluster the peonies in the wider area along the sidewalk (assuming that the future grass path swings right as the grass mini-lawn currently does) with annuals behind that.

I think that's a good idea. Take out the part of the grass going towards the path. Swing the path right to join the driveway and make the left hand bed more concave. Then I can cluster the peonies at the back by the path. Good thinking! I also bought some catmint for my back yesterday and think that would look really nice in the front as well,I front of the hydrangea.

Lime or a hose work well also.

I wasn't thinking of swinging the grass over to the drive since you already have the front door path doing that. I like that the grass comes out to the sidewalk along the street.