All of those are good choices and being paniculatas, they are reliable bloomers in your zone. Little Lime produces blooms that are more off white than the pure white sen in Limelight. In bright shade, it may keep the blooms green either all the time or for long periods of time. Strawberry Sundae blooms are very nice pinks around August. Little QF blooms earlier than the others and has great looking, medium yellow leaves in the Fall. Bobo is another compact one that people like.

Thank you! Iv'e been looking around and trying to learn what I can. I have a Forever and Ever Red hydrangea planted in full sun which needed quite a bit of water for the first several years but it's doing very well now. I have a City Line Mars I purchased from my local nursery without researching it first. I learned the ins and outs of that the hard way discovering how it blooms on old wood which isn't suitable for my zone. I have a feeling it won't bloom this year, the same way it didn't last year. I bought an Everlasting Revolution last year and after reading about that one more I think I made a mistake of putting it in a shaded area.

So now I'd like as much advice as I can get and I appreciate the information! The spot I'm wanting to place the hydrangea is in a full sun area which I forgot to mention. The hydrangea can be a compact to moderate size, hoping for one that's not too slow to grow. I also came across Blushing Bride and I was wondering about that one as well and how it would take the heat? Thanks again.

Spend a little, save a lot! I would suggest that you pick up a book on hydrangeas to take to the nursery when you shop. I like the one by Michael Dirr and it is available on line at Amazon - even used ones that are cheaper and some look like new. Of course a smart phone would work but I prefer books that can be underlined and pages marked. Just an idea - armed with a pack of post it notes and a pen and in a short while, you will be amazed at what you will learn.

Blushing bride is a big-leaf hydrangea (H. macrophylla) and won't be happy in full sun in zone 6. The flowers will brown out sooner and the leaves will be limp on sunny afternoons, even with a fair amount of water. The panicled hydrangeas (H. paniculata) you mentioned in your initial post will be fine in full sun IME, though in zone 6 for best appearance you will need to keep an eye on water more than I do and give them a layer of mulch over the roots and a deep soaking periodically if you aren't getting regular rain.

Which one you choose may depend on several factors: bloom color; bloom panicle size, shape and density; shrub size, and branch stiffness. Little Quickfire has more rounded, lacy panicles and starts blooming earlier than most, and so starts developing its red color earlier. Little Lime has more green tones, and the panicles are denser and start blooming a bit later than LQF. The fall red color isn't as vibrant and may have more brown tones depending on the site, but it doesn't harm the plant if you trim them off if they look unappealing to you. Strawberry Sundae has the largest panicles that are quite conical in shape and dense. The weight of the additional flowers means that they may not be held as upright, at least on young plants. I haven't seen any older plants of this type - it's relatively new to the US market, perhaps 3 years. I also don't know how the start of its bloom time compares to the other two since the ones I've seen were in a nursery and often blooms are pushed early in a greenhouse to help sales and I haven't seen LQF and SS near each other to compare the fall pink/red color.

Here is a link search on this forum for each in various threads.

Little Quickfire

Little Lime

Strawberry Sundae

My Annabelle wouldn't be happy in full sun, though my soil is probably better drained than yours. Due to its suckering I don't think I'd describe it as compact though it doesn't get above 4 1/2' in my garden.

NHBabs is right..mine are not in the sun..forgot you said your spot is sunny..deleted suggestion..

Agreed ophoenix, I can never get enough reading and info. thanks for the book source!

NHBabs, that's valuable to know about Blushing Bride I'm grateful for all your insight and for the links!

ncholsworth55, I heard good things about them and I'm sure they're lovely but Annabelle seems it may flop but either way they may be too large for the location I'm thinking of. I wish I had more space! :( Oh I just read your above comment yes looking for one that tolerates full sun :)

Winter protect the hydrangea macs that bloom on old wood so you can get bloomage. Then remove the protection after the chance of frost has passed. If you already are doing that but get no flowers, consider piling more leaves and or mulch than before, which may require making putting chicken wire further out and taller too.

I'll second NHBabs... Blushing Bride are a ZERO ... had couple for 5+ yrs never had more than 1 bloom each yr tried different locations .... and they have gone Bye Bye

Luis, I got the Mars Mac at Garden World in bloom. The following spring I removed the old wood, again ignorant of the ramifications. I wish the tags would tell you more before purchasing. Forever and Ever was my best bet the year I got that one. I understand about protecting them which can make a difference so I might give it another year after this. However, I won't remove the wood this year maybe that will help? Otherwise I don't have patience for certain things like winter protecting. My plants are diverse, Roses, Daylilies etc which all have different needs as you probably know. I was thinking if it doesn't bloom this year and even if it doesn't bloom again I would like to pot it up since the foliage is nice as long as it survives the winter. Even better someone in the NY area can come get it to try their hand at it if it fails to bloom this year. MY FAE bloomed reliably every year although it needed a lot of water initially until it established. The FAE is also supposed to be Red but leans towards purple due the soil I suppose which is more than fine. I like the FAE a lot I'm thinking of getting another one for a more compact spot, the spot I would like for the other area I'm hoping would be compact but larger than FAE. Right now I'm leaning toward Little Quick Fire after reading through the links NHBabs sent. Once again, thank you all for your help!

I'd like to add at my mother's house for the past 25+ years there's a hydrangea about 5 feet tall 4 feet wide. Blooms about a month+ I believe it's a big leaf, never any winter protection, it's in full sun. I think it blooms only on old wood but I'm not sure. So I considered that, but I should've looked into it more before purchasing now that I can find more helpful information.

Definitely don't remove old wood on any H. macrophylla since you will lose all spring bloom. You may lose it some years regardless, but leave the old wood until it's leafed out so that you know which branches are live and have live buds and which aren't. Generally, it sounds like you do well with watering enough for H. macrophyllas to do OK in a lot of sun. I generally plant them with morning sun and afternoon shade because then I don't have to fuss with watering them so much.

Yes, that should help. Those persnickety hydrangeas make me do this: (1) not prune after they develop the Spring flower buds in July-August (July for me in the South; August probably for you) and (2) prune AFTER they bloom but before the end of June-end of July (end of June for me; end of July-ish for you).

If you have any stems that have not leafed out and which look dried out, prune them down by the end of May. Note: I have had a few stems that, at the end of May, looked somewhat still alive but would not leaf out (I scratched the bark to tell if they were alive); a few made it but usually, they just kept drying out no matter what I did. I assume that internal winter damage was the culprit.

Consider touching base with ophoenix regarding getting cuttings from FAE instead of getting another plant. Hydrangeas propagate very easily and ophoenix "does this with her eyes closed" very well. She can give you many tips.