Pinky Winky does not flop much.

Love QF!

I love quick fire too

iron clad

no insect pests

no winter dieback

rabbits much prefer

oakleafs any variety

You could try some hydrangea serratas. They are smaller, most are lacecaps and the foliage on most of them turn beautiful in the fall with reds, orange and yellow foliage. Here are some that are growing in my PNW garden. Wolfgang, the owner of Gardens Oy Vey, will answer your questions and sells the best looking serratas I have bought anywhere. Here is the link to his site https://www.gardensoyvey.com/

Here are some that I am growing. Several were purchased several years ago and the labels were lost but best as I can tell, the names are correct.

Hydrangea serrata Izu No Hana

Possibly Beni Gaku really small - about 2 ft tall - planted in soil - turning blue.

Hydrangea Beni Gaku - Beni mean red in Japanese - from Gardens OyVey

planted in container with bagged soil to keep red color.

hydrangea serrata kiyosumi

And..... for something really spectacular - check out Miss Saori winner of: Silver Plant of the Year 2014 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. I have our friend Luis to thank for leading me to this one! lol So far it is holding the red in my garden soil where every other pink or red turns blue. Thanks Luis this is a beauty and so far only 18 inches.

Check out HydrangeaPlus's website. They carry a lot of compact serrata lacecaps.

I don’t find that Limelight is particularly floppy compared to other large flowered paniculata types. It doesn’t need staking IME though I have only seen them in other gardens, not grown it.

I have grown both Pinky Winky and Quickfire and both are well over my head. QF is something like 7’-8’ tall, and likely about as wide, though it has bumped up against other shrubs by now so might get wider in other circumstances. PW is close to 9’ by now, and is at least 12’ wide. Both are completely upright through heavy rain, windstorms, and drought (once established) and the only pruning I do is for crossed branches and deadheading in early spring. They flower top to bottom. My other paniculata don’t reach the size of those two. Pink Diamond gets larger than both but has panicles shaped more like PW. I like PW in summer, but its autumn color is a rustier shade than the bright cerise of QF and bloom time is about 3 weeks less, so given my druthers, I would add another QF before another PW.

If your spot for shorter ones will have afternoon shade, look at various types of Hydrangea arborescens. Go for some of the shorter or smaller flowered types. It might benefit from an early spring quick twine and stake webbing to give a bit of support, but I have just placed my Annabelle between a couple of stout shrubs it can lean on and don’t do any staking. It does fine as long as I don’t hard prune it so it has mature wood and smaller flowers. It is a spreader and so needs chunks removed at least every couple of years to not get out of control. The smaller ones might be more upright - hopefully someone else will have more experience.

Check hardiness of specific serrata types with those that have grown them in your specific zone. Some do well for me, but others behave much like macrophylla and only have a few flowers occasionally. Twist and Shout and Tuff Stuff are two that have done well for me.

Hi Babs, here is my PW in October

Limelight isn’t floppy. The only flopping you will get is when the large flowers are water logged after a heavy rainfall.

HydrangeasPlus is a great nursery and I have some of their hydrangeas and they are doing very well. I suggested the other nursery because it is in Tenn. The advantage to buying from nurseries close to your location is that you can usually get better information because they are familiar - with the issues in your zone. Buying from the grower is a good idea, or from a local nursery that has knowledgeable sales people. Buying from box stores is ok if you are an experienced gardener and are willing and can afford to take a chance on a plant.

I was able to speak directly with the owner of Hydrangeas Plus with questions about a plant that I wanted to buy and she was very helpful and when my selected one was received, it was much bigger and fuller than any I have purchased before. I had the same experience with Wolfgang - owner of Gardens oy vey, but this was done on line and the plants were so well packed they could have gone to the moon and back without a leaf wilting!

Mannnn I love twist and shout and tuff stuff. I'm seeing twist and shout is bigger than tuff, 5x5?? True? I wonder if this would be ok under the canopy of the limelight or quickfire? I would love to have both of those types together just for contast of the blooms. I think tuff would just look too dwarfed next to limelight (or QF). Decisions decisions....

I wouldn‘t put either serrata under a paniculata canopy.

I would look elsewhere than HydrangsPlus for accurate size estimates since most of their larger paniculata are estimated at 6’x6’ even ones like Limelight and Pinky Winky which get a bunch larger. That isn’t suggesting that you should not buy from them because i have only heard positives about the quality of their plants, just that those size estimates are smaller than life for those plants, at least around here.

Lauren, you can always move the plants if they turn out to be either too big or too small or not the perfect color for the place you put them.

Hydrangeas plus is located in Oregon - try a nursery in your state or closer than Oregon! lol

So would it be too much shade for the serrata? Should I chose something more shade tolerant? I'd prefer not to move things later if I don't have to... already do my fair share of that when I'm NOT expecting to!

Vanilla Strawberry gets tall & does not flop. Same for Limelight and Quickfire if you are looking for height.

I think you will find that many folks find that Vanilla Strawberry does flop/weep/arch, and I have seen photos of it with blossoms literally on the ground. Do a search for it on this forum. I think it looks best either pruned up into a somewhat weeping tree form or planted at the top of a wall where the drooping panicles look elegant.

The thread linked below has photos that show guyground’s VS planted at the top of a wall as well as Hyed’s pruned up to multistemmed tree form. In each case the method of growth takes advantage of the arching form of the plant so that it doesn’t flop.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5448923/optimizing-vanilla-strawberry-color-change-by-delayed-pruning#n=32

I agree with NHBabs about VS. My Little Lime does not flop but it is young still (3 yrs) and it is in a very, very rain protected area so 3/4th of the shrub does not get rain directly and most blooms do not get wet.