The standards that I have seen (so far) in plant nurseries here in the States are not grafted. The wholesalers select from amongst all the stems, one that is particularly straight and develop it and cut down all the way the ones which they do not want to develop as a leader trunk.

However, I have seen paniculatas for sale in Canada that are grafted. Not sure if it is to put super duper big extra winter hardy roots or what. I contacted the wholesaler but failed to get a response to my question of why they (the wholesaler) were doing that.

Basically, over here, paniculata owners who do tree paniculata forms will evaluate the new/old growth each year and cut off those stems that they do not want to use as a main trunk and leave a handful that appear as good choices/candidates. With each passing Spring, less stems are left until one single stem remains as the main trunk. I think hyed has a nice Vanilla Strawberry Tree that -I think- he "developed" himself (not sure if hyed is a 'he' or 'she'; defaulted to 'he'; sorry if this wrong hyed!).

Hi Luis, LOL....Mr. Hyed (hydrangea Ed) here is VS and a Pee Gee i’m training to tree form

Hee hee hee! Thanks Ed. Good to know. I suspected but was not sure.

Say, one question. Over here, there are some shrubs that get shaped into similar tree shapes. They are called Crape Myrtles but resemble Lilacs. The CMs here are shaped into tree form with multiple trunks as opposed to single trunks. Have you ever seen a standard paniculata that had multiple trunks? I never saw one in my travels through New Hampshire, Mass, Vermont or in Georgia. Of course, I was not looking for multi-trunk specimens. Just wondered if you had ever seen a Crape Myrtle-like (multiple trunks) paniculata in your travels .

Hi Luis, no I have never seen a multi stem tree form pani for sale in my area as for Craape Myrtle,I know nothing about ....this is a interesting post[https://www.houzz.com/discussions/growing-crape-myrtle-outdoor-in-southern-nh-dsvw-vd~2060766[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/growing-crape-myrtle-outdoor-in-southern-nh-dsvw-vd~2060766)

Luis, I appreciate your indepth reply and hyed that 'Vanilla Strawberry' sure does look great when pruned up like that! I have a 'Little Lamb' I'd like to take the snipers to and create the same effect. I should have worded my original post more specifically, I wish to rework some hydrangeas over to another variety, these will be cut back and either grafted or budded. An acquaintance in the nursery trade might possibly be able to tell me what type of grafting best suits paniculatas and if not, I'll just go ahead and experiment for myself :)