This was it Sept 2020. So upright! (not quite reaching the windows as my memory thought) There could be a stake or two in there but if so, they are working! Not like this year.

Unfortunately, no. The blooms on my Firelights, Limelight, and even some Bobos are so big and heavy that they flop at the first heavy rain. I have used stakes and trellises to prop the branches up with limit4ed success.

My Little Limes are floppers too, in addition to my Firelights and Limelights and, of course, Annabelle. I only prune to remove the previous season’s blooms. It has rained so much this summer that nearly all of them are flopping. Next year I’m going to set up some decorative fencing in front of the Annabelles and Firelights (they‘re in hedges) so at least when they flop, they’ll flop over the top of the fence and not nearly to the ground.

As a side note, Quickfire and Little Quickfire, with their open, lacy blooms, do not flop at all and are quite wonderful, particularly Little Quickfire.

@lovemycorgi Those Little Quickfire's are gorgeous!!! I have some too and it sure is nice to have zero flopping! Mine are not as floriferous as yours. Good job! Are those in full sun? Mine are part-shade (except the tree that is supposed to be shading them is part dead so maybe next year QF will get more blooms)

My neighbor has Little Lime and it is doing okay. Still young. This is side view.

I was looking closely at the stems of my TIckled Pink and earlier pruning is definitely part of the problem. Where I made one cut some years ago, three large branches formed. That surely contributes to them being top heavy. But if you haven't pruned yours and yours still flop, then my pruned triple branches are not solely the cause.

Looks like we both have Rozanne next to Little QF

I’m interested in this flopping issue too as my LL has same problem. I do all the pruning steps trying different approaches just as you have Wendy - and with the exact results you’ve seen. I saw an earlier post where the person said they pruned the ’non-vertical’ blooms off leaving only the vertical stems. I really need a visual to fully understand that method. I’ve looked at my LL & if I did that I’d have few flowers left. I’ve used single tall flower stakes to prop up individual branches which helps a bit. But, my LL is planted on a downward slope from my patio so the droopy issue is increased on the patio facing side of shrub.

Wendy, thank you, yes, my LQFs are in full sun…they are absolutely my most favorite shrub ever! So easy; I do nothing to them except snip off last season’s blooms before new growth begins in spring and perhaps trim off an runaway stem. And I also love Rozanne with them, as she has a way of rambling and intermingling with LQF’s blooms; it really makes for a pretty combination!

I just looked closely at that picture I shot of my 3 LQFs. Notice how the one on the left has a tall upright section. I wonder if some QF DNA is showing itself? It is so annoying when our prized plants keep reverting to something else. I've run into that over the years. How to ruin a planned design!

I used to have a regular QF and after a handful of years, it was ginormous and spread a bunch. It was a pain to keep it in bounds. I should have planted it in a place with more room to let it do its thing. I moved from that house. Wonder what the next owner did with it...

I used to get errant tall stems on both LQF and Little Lime. I don’t think they’re reverting, I think they’re just growing, and just like roses, some stems grow more quickly than others - I just trim back the ones that look too lopsided. Now that my shrubs are about five or six years old, I hardly get any of those and the shape is much more uniform.

I also have a full size QF and yep, she sure does take up a large amount of space!! And it’s not nearly as floriferous as LQF. But I still like it. I think i’m going to try Pinky Winky next. Just gotta find a spot to put it!! 😆

As lovemycorgi said, the lighter weight blooms like the Quickfires or Pinky Winky are less likely to flop. Not pruning (just deadheading), less water, and more sun make them less likely to flop in our northern zones. Once they are farther south, I don’t know how they balance the need for cooler temperatures or enough moisture.

In my garden, they are well mulched, but after the first couple of years they aren’t watered or ever fertilizedand only deadheaded, and I have seen no flopping. All my plants are in full, all day sun.

Observing some other neighborhood paniculatas that are NOT flopping. This one is called 'Flare'. Extremely upright. This one is in full sun.

This one is same variety but morning sun only. Both are 3rd year.

I actually like the 2nd one a bit better. Looks more graceful.

Looking around as I drive about, these newer so-called "dwarf" paniculatas are really becoming popular. I would even say ubiqutious. I wonder if they are the Stella D'Oro's of tomorrow? :-)

Here’s my Limelight tree after heavy rains a few weeks back.
debra