It may be possible though at some point you’ll likely have to prune very hard.

The key thing with pruning these is any pruning has to be done late winter / early spring , otherwise you may not get flowers.

If you prune once and do it early in the season It’s totally fine health wise for plant.

Since Limelight is so vigorous, you may end up having to prune hard (low) often. Like every year or every two years. Sounds like a pain to be adding such a regular pruning task to your Spring to-do list.

Since you bought them just over the weekend, I would return them.

I wouldn’t want to. An established plant will grow to quite close to its original height in just one season, even from a hard pruning down to just a few feet in late winter or very early spring. And if one prunes after growth starts in the spring you may remove the flower buds. Also, every branch would need to be cut by hand, so this would be a time consuming task.

Nurseries are in the business of selling and may not be beyond telling you what you want to hear. I would return or find a different spot for Limelight and look at some of the genetically smaller ones that will stay close to the size you want.

I would prune my LLs drown to 2’ in April come September they would be 10’

Hyed,

The first thing I noticed was how deep of a blue your macros are to the right of your deck. What variety are those?

That looks like twist and shout , no ?

And answer it...Mathilda Gutges... I have never Winter protected it after 10:yrs it only gets to 18”/2fthttps://www.google.com/search?ei=_kMBXfqWKYO-ggfRjq2QAw&q=hydrangea+mathilda+gutges&oq=hydrangeavmath&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.1.0.0i13l5j0i13i30l2j0i13i10i30.2530.5418..8843...0.0..0.113.454.3j2......0....1.........0i71j46i13i275j46i13.VZpsUaEiV7M

No :-) Twist 'n Shout is a lacecap form (serrata) and I have never seen it bloom with that intensity of color. usually a rather pale blue, even in very acidic soils. Maybe a 'Bloomstruck'..........?

ETA: Ah, yes, Mathilda....she is known for very deeply colored flowers :-)

Interesting.... I have never in my life seen that intense of a blue on a Macro Hydrangea.

Wise move. Little lime makes a lot more sense.

Ditto.