Not with paniculatas but with a mophead. That tendency to growth new stems is what hydrangeas do when, ha!, a spouse accidentally mows or cuts over hydrangeas... ;o))

After a few seasons of doing this 'growing of new stems' and you 'cutting them off', hydrangeas reduce this new growth somewhat but it does not go away. Similar to what happens if you convert a Crape Myrtle from a bush to tree-form.

The same thing happens when you try to convert paniculatas to tree form. Select one or a handful of trunks and cut the rest. And every year, cut anything else that tries to regrow.

You just have to keep the pruners handy and use them as needed in Spring. Also, keep thinning leaves that may tend to grow lower down the trunks.

Annabelle probably does not "do" tree form. From an aesthethic point of view at least. Besides, the stems are normally not strong enough for that... which is why I considered that project once but chose not to do it.

Thanks Luis - always good hydrangea knowledge!

Ok, so maybe I will keep at it. I didn't do a second pruning in the spring, mostly because it is the first year these are in the ground, and especially on the Bobo, no buds swelled higher up the plant until later in the season.

I don't want to remove flowers from the Bobo now, but maybe I will look and see if there is low, inside growth that is just vegetative.

The paniculatas are mixed in with mopheads and other shrubs. I think selecting a few main trunks and showing them will look nice in contrast to the mopheads that tend to make a mound.

Today with matching LQF

Ok me again a few other I have pruned to tree form VS & PW last two as or today

Thanks Hyed,

I've seen some of these you've posted, and this is the style I'm thinking about. It's not so extreme as the tree-form, where someone's really altered the plant's habit, but it gives the plant some form.

So you can do this with just about any paniculata, you just have to keep it pruned at the base, especially the first few years?

PS Hyed,

does the LQF also bloom as early as the QF? I don't have space for a QF (or LQF really), but I'd like some earlier flowers. The Bobo is flowering, and the mopheads have as well, I also planted some azaleas, clematis and honeysuckle to get some earlier flowering, but the LQF sounds interesting if it actually flowers noticeably sooner than other paniculatas.

Jon, my LQF are starting to bud now that’s because they new/ young .. my original QF are monster and will have color my the 1st of July....I believe that after a few yrs LQF will bloom at the same time

Good to know! My sister lives in Boston - she called and asked if a Quick Fire is good. I told her that is the best choice for the region.

Ok but a few pictures of Original QF & Limelight how big they can get ... again I have shown these pictures many times...Sorry

looks great! She got a tree-for QF. It will take up a good portion of her yard, but... I told her before she bought it, plan for 8-feet.

I took a few of the "suckers" off my Bobo and Strawberry Sundae. I'll wait until pruning time to remove any more lower/inside growth.

Hi Hyed -

How many ~years~ from planting did it take for you to tree form those . Anytime I buy a ~big shrub~ or tree, I say it's worth every $ spent.....someone has had to water and feed the thing to this size..

a fan, the LLs & QF are about 12 yrs .I used pruned the LL down to 2’...why they will grow to 9’...now I just remove the old blooms in April same for the QF here is another picture from the deck

Jon, here is a new Bobo I picked up earlier already in tree form, between two Mathilda Gutges

Thanks Hyed - that is basically what I am going for. I just think over time, when there are too many trunks, they thicken into a mass. Focusing on a few main ones, I think, looks nice.

I saw Bobo standards sold at a nursery last week. Never seen a multi trunk Bobo before.

Next year I would like to trim my Strawbwery Sundaes & Little Lime into multi trunk trees as well.

Thanks for the photo!

I have observed the same thing. All the hydrangea standards at plant nurseries are single trunks, not multiple trunks (think Crape Myrtles). I guess the advantage of multi-trunks may be that if one trunk dies, the shrub remains, you still get foliage/blooms from the rest of the trunks (might look weird aesthetically for a few years). Of course, it would be rare for this problem to happen.