Limelight- sprawling? crawling? Pruning? Help!

So, I have had my "limelight" hydrangea two summers now, and I am not seeing any blooms. I do not mind because I know this plant has better than doubled in size, but it also appears very "sprawling"? It's sorta got branches sticking out every which way. Since I see no blooms and no buds yet will it be ok for me to do some pruning.
Do paniculatas bloom on old wood? I would like to sort of shape it more upright and shrubby. But I am not sure if you can tell from the photos just how low most of these branches are. It's like it is trying to layer itself!? I am considering a heavy duty peony cage, does anyone have experience trying to shape new woody hydrangeas? I would like to try this while its still green and not as likely to break the branches. They should be green enough still to sort of bend up into the cage.

Paniculatas only blooms once and do it on new wood. The flower buds develop sometime around May and open sometime in June; those are averages and vary depending whether one lives in the north or south.

Fell free to prune paniculatas at almost any time. The one time I would not prune is during between the time it leafs out and the time the buds open and you get blooms. You can get some chicken wire and place it around the shrub as if you were tightening a belt around someone's waist.

Thank you! I am sure I won't see blooms this year then since its July now and no sign of any buds :( oh well I will give it a little fertilizer and some extra protection this winter and hope that it will leap in its third year! :)

This is the second case of a paniculata not blooming that I have heard of this year. The other one was a Bombsheel Hydrangea (also a paniculata). Puzzling... as these are tough plants and this problem is extremely rare in paniculatas, unless one prunes after they leaf out. Some paniculatas can develop blooms as late as July-ish.

Do you remember seeing any flower buds at all this year? Or ever?

Do you have any pesky visitors that may have eaten the flower buds? Squirrels, bunnies and deer come to mind.

How did you get the plant? From a plant nursery? Was it blooming when you bought it?

It was from lowes, blooming when I got it last summer only had two flowers which I cut off as soon as they looked yucky cause I wanted this plant to really flourish. I give it coffee, and mulch and its in sun until noon then shade, I am confused too, because Mittsy said her limelight didn't have any blooms yet either last time I was there, last month? So maybe they are late bloomers here in zone 5?

Has it been pruned this year?

In my zone 7 garden, my paniculatas are just starting to bloom. They started forming buds maybe about a month ago. They were all pruned pretty drastically in late winter.

Paniculatas like a lot of sun and don't bloom well in the shade. The one I have in full sun is blooming now, but the ones in half shade probably won't bloom for another 2-3 weeks.

No, it hasn't been pruned this year. It has been excessively rainy and spring was cold. So maybe the extra water/lack of sun (despite not actually being in the shade ;) ) has something to do with it. I just see all the Annabelle's and the mop heads blooming away, I am getting a bit of garden envy

Ooh!!! Look what I found! Yay! Ok I guess these guys are just a little later than the others! There are a few little flowers starting.

Great!

All right for Limelight then! Make a note for future reference that you once got very late blooms.

Good idea! :) since its been such a weird year weather wise I am thinking maybe it just set to making foliage? Not sure. But I will give it extra TLC over the winter just in case.