I think @ostrich grows (or once grew) Little Hottie. See if you can send him a message.

Thanks @luis_pr, I reached out to @ostrich in another thread regarding Little Hottie, and she had a similar experience as I. It's didn't display much vigor for her either.

I've grown more cultivars of panicles than I can count...since there is seemingly new introductions every year, with the differences being so subtle they are barely distinguishable between each other. However, in my book you can't beat the old stalwarts...Limelight, Pinky Winky, Quickfire, Little Quickfire and PeeGee...throw those in a full sun spot without any special care and they perform like rockstars.

Panicles do not perk up much here in Texas either. Sigh. With daily 100s from June through September or October, they do poorly. VS goes from white to brown many times here and does not get any nice or long pinks. They need shade by 3pm or so here; 5pm when I was in Atlanta, GA. I understand your desire for less drooping. Do realize that your shrub is quite underdeveloped, not yet a year old so hang on longer since you already invested some money. A small root system cannot uptake as much soil moisture as needed so I would hope it improves with a larger root system and with some more time. Since it is supposed to stay dwarf, I am also not surprised to hear that lacks vigor since the opposite would result in a shrub that might not stay dwarf. But maybe they could have made it more "floriferous". Have you considered a spot with direct sun from sunrise to sunset (assuming you are not in a "hot" place? Ostrich is in Canada. Where are you?

A friend in Oregon zone 8b allowed me to attach below her 1-year old Little Hottie's picture.