Oh, no. Over here, Limelight, Vanilla Strawberry, Little Lime or any others with dense, large, heavy panicle blooms will flop if they get it by a strong enough thunderstorm. To minimize the chance of flopping, select cultivars that produce smaller and lacy blooms like Pinky Winky, etc. And quickly shake the water off. Consider deadheading as soon as the blooms brown out to help with flopping. Lucky you to not have strong enough thunderstorms over there or have them often!

Thanks, Luis and lovemycorgi!

Lovemycorgi, is that really a Little Lime? MIne looks so different! Mind you, mine is only 2 years old, so perhaps in a few years' time, it will look like yours? Thanks!!!!

Yes, it’s really a Little Lime, I have five of them, all very close to full bloom, but not quite there. They’re sited in full sun, and they grew a lot this year because of all the rain we had in Spring. Here is another one:

I've had success with flopping hydrangea by putting a wire cage around the base. maybe 18-24" tall and 24"" in diameter. Once the plant matures, you won't see the cage. There will still be some flopping, but it looks a lot better than stems hitting the ground.

My Little Limes flop and break in heavy rains, but they recover to some extent.

We received scant rain, the several waves of storm clouds I could see as always being unable to progress up and over this ridge, only strong storms manage doing so.

'Little Lime' was shovel pruned this spring, hadn't been much of a flopper, though I desired a change for something different and earlier flowering. 'Little Lamb', I think had "possibly" flopped a bit in its first few years, strong and very reliable afterwards, I know of no other paniculata that performs as well in the far north as it does! My specimen is about 6 ft tall x 7 or more wide and now gearing up to show off until frost. Only drawback is blooms do not have the most heavy of substance, but will maintain well with adequate moisture. I'm excited about 'Moon Rock', as have mentioned before, it has about the very best bloom substance and super nice foliage! 'Fire Light' seems to have improved this year, specimen is looking rather good, but has sooo many blooms at different stages, some that won't likely be full out until the end of the month, not so great for my short summers, will be the make or break season for it.

'Little Lamb' as of today August 7 th.

Should have been named 'Large Ram' LOL.

I found this photo of my Little Limes (behind the Fire Light standard) from September 2020....they were much smaller then!

@FrozeBudd_z3/4, does Little Lamb have lacier, more open blooms than say, Limelight? I’ve never seen it at a nursery near me, but yours looks lovely!

I had read that 'Little Lamb' was named such due to it's fluffy appearance, I'll take a close up photo soon when blooms are fully out. I don't know how much this variety remains in the current nursery trade with the constant flow of new introductions.

Oh, LOVELY photo of your plantings lovemycorgi !! :)

One thing that may lead to flopping is that if they don’t have enough sun. Another is pruning them since the older branches are woodier. Adding wire mesh as Luis suggested in early spring so the foliage and flowers cover it up as they grow may help. Adding stiff branches that come up into the shrub may help. Thinning some of the blooms may help.

I was just thinking that a couple of days ago. We've had drought for 2 months so the Little Lime was upright but dropping yellow leaves from not enough water, then we got a couple of brief downpours, enough to soak the blooms. Now half the branches are flopped over. I don't know which to wish for, more drought or more rain. [g] I pruned it in the spring. I'm happy with the resulting size and shape. I don't think I'll need to prune it spring, so maybe the stems will be more woody then. And my shrubs are in full sun all day long from sun up to sun down. So, I'll need to give it support if the stems aren't stronger next season.

Love your display, lovemycorgi! Yours are gorgeous too, Fbudd!

FrozeBudd and lovemycorgi, thank you for sharing the photos of your Little Lamb! It's funny because I grew Little Lamb in Zone 6a before and it never was very vigorous for me there. It was just flopping around and crawling on the ground, so it was never my favourite... but perhaps that was because it was grown in a partial shade spot??? FB and lovemycorgi, yours are great!!! I saw a Little Lamb in Home Depot the other day and thought of you already, FB! LOL!

BTW, my Little LIme recovered quite a bit after the big rainstorm and are now mostly upright again! They are both in full sun locations but their habit does remind me of my old Little Lamb ironcially.... LOL!

Ahhhh, shucks and I thought of you today as I came across 'Limelight Prime', high quality striking blooms set against dark foliage, really crisp looking and unique, I stood there considering to purchase it, though holding back thinking it might also bloom on the later side as does the 'Limelight', but when I got back home googled it to find out it flowers "much earlier', probably meaning two weeks, in which that certainly is a bonus this far north! Dang, now wish I hadn't left it behind, but where does this hydrangea collecting madness end, just wait for next year and the inevitable release of yet more new varieties !!

For me, I'm wishing I had invested time and money in plants that would stand up to the crazy weather better. Those who aren't experiencing drought, may find that changes and it's sad to see crispy blooms, wilted leaves, brown flowers and leaves on your hydrangeas. I'm hoping this fall to spend some time researching which plants will tolerate drought better.

FrozeBudd, you made me LOL when I read your sentence, "...wish I hadn't left it behind, but where does this hydrangea collecting madness end..."! It is so true, isn't it!? LOL!

BTW, I was at the Home Depot in Strathcona (the one near the UofA) yesterday, and saw quite a few Limelight Prime there. They were all small 8" pots at $23 each. Some looked pretty decent too. I immediately thought of you! LOL! So if you are still looking for them, then the HD near the U has a few of them still! LOL!

What I saw there that I was really tempted to get were Fire and Ice! This one is not found everywhere and they got a few tired looking ones there. But then at full price, I thought that perhaps I should just wait for them to go on sale...! LOL! Since I don't have the flower beds ready for them yet, perhaps just wait for next year anyway?

Oh well, this hydrangea addiction really is bad LOL!

Prairiemoon, I hear you! But sometimes it is a bit of a trial and error, and to me, in my area, it is largely down to what is available (and what is on sale!!! LOL!). So sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.... I guess that is the fun of it? Maybe I am just too brutal because if it does not work, then I rip it out and start again.... oh well! LOL!

Ostrich - I definitely am on the same page with you, my gardening style is a lot of trial and error and I have ripped out my fair share of plants over the years.

I should have been clearer - I'm not getting rid of my Hydrangea paniculatas! I love them, I have three. It's all the Mopheads that I have to take out, that never contribute anything to the garden because either the early frost is killing the buds and I barely see a bloom some years, or they're wilting every day from the heat and the dry weather. And this year with the extreme heat and drought for over 6 straight weeks, and a water ban, they had a few blooms that are all crispy and a lot of the leaves are half brown too. I have an Oakleaf Hydrangea that I love but every year it goes from white blooms to brown blooms and this year, it's even worse. I didn't think they could get worse. lol

So, I am keeping the Little Limes and Pink Diamond but I'm going to have to move them to spots that aren't as hot. And closer to a rain barrel. [g]

Prairiemoon, I hear you! I had some mopheads (Endless Summer actually) when I lived in Zone 6a before, and they did very well for me! But then they were in a very protected location, with part sun and also by the foundation. Without all of those favourable factors, they would not have done well!!! Mind you, in some years, they barely had many blooms though for most years, they were productive. So they are quite high maintenance in Zone 6!!! LOL!

That said, I still miss the blue blooms that I can never have in my Zone 4a area now... sigh!

My limelight has terrible flopping and is flopping to the ground again this year. As much as I love this plant, I think I am down with them. Tempted to try Limelight Prime, but guessing it does the same thing. So, disappointing to see my limelights flop every year.

Walking around one of our local nursery’s yesterday, which has a huge variety of hydrangeas, it seems most of the pannicle hydranges flop. Have to be hard to sell, when people seem them flopping everywhere. Limelight Prime was about only one of the larger varities that was not flopping. Phantom was another, which is hard to believe, as that gets really big.

Tempted to try Firelight tidbit, as that should be too small to flop.

@DBV DBV, If you are happy with the lacier types, Quickfire and White Diamond don’t flop at all. With regards to the nursery specimens, the tendancy in recent breeding of paniculatas is to go for huge, voluptuous bloom panicles, and especially when wet, these have a harder time remaining upright.

@DBV DBV, I have Fire Light Tid Bit, and she’s a flopper. The large blooms simply hold onto too much water when it rains. The plant is young however, so perhaps the stems will bulk up in future years. NHBabs is correct - the lacier, more open blooms of Quick Fire or Little Quick Fire don’t flop at all. My neighbor’s Pinky Winky blooms don’t flop either.

ostrich - Actually one of the Hydrangeas I need to get rid of is Endless Summer. I have 3 of them in different locations and two other varieties of Mophead, one of which is up against the foundation of the house in a sheltered position. That one Is 'Madam Emille Mouilere' and it blooms okay in that location. But all of them wilt every year and this year to the extreme. And this is the first time I've had crispy flowers I had to cut off or leaves that have ended up part brown. And as I was thinking about replacing them, I thought, I don't even enjoy blue flowers. lol I like my white Hydrangeas much better.

prairiemoon, that is not good!!! Crispy hydrangeas are not attractive. Do your paniculatas do well in the same areas? Is it just the macrophyllas?

Sounds like heat stress. Ensure that the plants -especially ones that blooms on old wood- still get sun until 11am or earlier (no 12pm, no afternoon and no evening sun); temperatures are mild in the summer; the location is not windy; they get enough water (water deeply enough to moisten the soil at a depth of 8"); they have 3-4" of mulch always; water as soon as the soil feels dry at a depth of 4" in the summer. All hydrangeas have been wilting down here with daily 100s since mid May and no rain until yesterday.

Endless Summer blooms on both new and old wood. All of my Hydrangeas except for Little Lime and Pink Diamond are facing East with shade all afternoon. Our summers cannot be said to have temps that are mild. No. This year, it seemed to me that we had a LOT of wind. But, normally I wouldn't say we were particularly windy. And you can't keep them watered correctly with no rain for 2 months and a water ban.

Climate Change. Seems to me it's only going to get worse. Adapting is about all you can do, I think.

Ostrich, my paniculatas are in full sun unlike all my macrophyllas. I'm hoping to move them into part sun. I might get fewer blooms but at least they will not be exposed to all day sun at these extremes.

My Little Lime thinks it's a ground cover. Somehow it flopped and now the stems seem to be stuck in that shape. I'm not sure what to do about it. I know that it probably doesn't get enough sun in this location. But it gets great water here and not many other parts of my yard have sufficient water for it.

Should I trim all the stems?

popmama, how big is it? Can it be moved? In my limited experience, if a plant is not happy in a location, there is not much that one can do about it to make it happy except to move it to somewhere that suits it better.... is that an option?

popmama, I’ve found that my established Little Limes do not need much, if any, supplemental water; they’re on the south side of my house in full sun, zone 5b/6a Michigan.