As the growing starts coming to a close, hydrangeas are more difficult to find. I saw Little Lamb locally last year (first time I ever found it locally). But this season, there are different paniculatas for sale.

The Proven Winner website says the plant is no longer available so my guess is it's been phased out in favor of newer genetics. It's still under patent protection so a grower needs the permission of the patent holder to propagate and sell it. From what I remember of this plant, there is better on the market now. Zin Fin Doll, Strawberry Sundae, Little Quick Fire, Tickled Pink.

You all got me curious. After communicating with PW, they indicated that they replaced it with Zin Fin Doll.

I think little Quickfire is winner ... if u want something bigger maybe Firelight

I have ZF doll and although one of its parents is lamb, it looks more like Pinky Winky. Little lamb has that cottage garden old peegee look that I don’t see in other varieties. For me it stands out.

I wonder what was wrong with Little Lamb that it was pulled. I just can’t see ZFdoll as it’s replacement.

Patent expires in 2022 so maybe it'll reappear in the market after that.

The difference between Z doll (will flop) PW(WILL NEVER flop)

Little Lamb is a beautiful dwarf Hydrangea paniculata developed by Jelena DeBleder of Belgium. It is one of my favorites, but we did phased it out. We had many complaints that the plant could not hold up it's flowers. This was true on young plants, but with time, and as the plant matured it gained strength and made a very fine garden plant. With the introduction of the dwarf variety Bobo® , also from Belgium, the stem problem was solved and the complaints went away. Personally, I have not thought of Zinfin Doll as a Little Lamb replacement, but it is a semi dwarf plant with strong stems and excellent flower coloration as the blooms age. It is a cross I made between Little Lamb and Pinky Winky and it combines many of the best traits of both varieties. So if you liked Little Lamb because of it's pink autumn blooms, Zinfin Doll would fill that need. Those of us at Proven Winners work very hard to maintain the quality of our plants and we are always looking for the very best plants possible. In our trials, we day the best plant wins, so with time we do phase out plant and replace them. If you are interested in Hydrangea paniculata, I posted an article on my blog "The Plant Hunter" about the evolution of Hydrangea paniculata breeding. You'll get to see a sneak peek of three new Hydrangea paniculata introductions that will be in better independent garden centers next spring. If you subscribe to the blog, you'll get periodic updates on other woody plants we are finding, breeding, trialing and introducing.

Tim , u have not address the flopping of Z Doll and PW...my friend

Dwarf?? Hardly!! Little Lamb, although not the largest, is a full sized paniculata. Will easily reach 8' tall and almost as wide and in favorable climates could get even larger. Three established plants in a client's garden must be heavily cut back each spring so as not to overwhelm their planting location and smother nearby smaller plants.

GardenGal48 dwarf is relative and an 8' tall paniculata is not full sized. You live in one of the most ideal growing climates in the world. How tall does Limelight grow in your area?

Its too bad it was phased out due to the stems. I was able to find a large LLamb at a nursery today (worker had a hard time finding it). There are several varieties that are floppy when young which is actually an attribute I prefer. The colors of ZFdoll don't seem to mirror that of LLamb so I don't consider it a substitute. LLamb stands out to me regarding flower shape and color so I'm glad I was able to find one : ) Let's just say its unique (but not Unique ha ha). Thanks for all of the great posts and informative /insightful comments; I appreciate the passion you all share with me. I think I will soon need to buy another property at the rate these varieties are being pushed out.

I didn't know it was that - Tim Wood-. I thought it was just a internet handle.

On the LL Prime, is the Bloom size just the same/similar/color ?. Leaf on the pics looks darker and glossier. Unless it was those pesky marketing people getting pesky with Photoshop.

In retrospect, the standard PeeGee continues to be available and it is certainly a flopper. So I question the motive to phase out Llamb. Granted, sales are factor but most say this is a beautiful variety. Where will the poor lamb go without a home :(

An 8' tall paniculata IS considered full size, although on the low end of the scale (typically stated as 8-15'). A 'dwarf' is a cultivar that will generally stay somewhere around 1/2 to 2/3 of a full sized shrub......4-6' or so. My client's Little Lambs easily exceed 8' before pruning....if left unpruned, I would expect to see them in the 10'+ range.

There is nothing dwarf about them....or even very compact. These are BIG plants!! btw, no issues at all with floppiness.

Garden gal, some good insight. How low do you prune yours and is there roughly x amount of stems you keep? How’s the fall color?

These are not my plants so I don't do any pruning :-) My clients just cut them back in late winter to a manageable size....somewhere around 5-6'. But it doesn't take very long before they are back to almost as large as they were before any pruning. They are large enough that the revamped garden design required one be removed entirely and other plants near the hydrangeas be relocated.

There is no foliage fall color to speak of....it just yellows before dropping. Flowers will take on a pink blush as they age but it is not a deep or dark pink.