it looks really different than the pictures in Plantfiles. Are there different varieties that are all called "Limelight?" They advertise it as turning rosy red, but the pictures in PF are mostly green & white.
http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=47991&PrevMainPage=zonemap&scChannel=zonemap&OfferCode=V1H
So, I saw in some other posts that Limelight blooms on new wood, and shouldn't need winter protection? I'm seriously considering ordering a couple, if I can figure out where to put some that big! Just getting started on hydrangeas: put in a Preziosa and a Pinky Winky this spring.
Saw "Limelight" on Parks site, buy one, get one free, but...
You're correct about the new wood, it's a paniculata and they are hardier than the macrophyllas plus they bloom on new wood so you don't have to worry about protecting them over the winter in order to have blooms. Generally Limelight is advertised for its greenish-white blooms (hence the name!) but many paniculatas do have blooms that turn pinkish with age. Having never grown Limelight I don't know if it does or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did. Since it's a patented plant and they took the time to properly label it with the plant patent number, I suspect it is the plant they say it is and they are just emphasizing its late season flower color rather than the greenish white blooms that everyone else focuses on.
This is the photo of a Limelight that everyone loves. I don't know if they all turn this deep a pink in the fall (mine only went in this year) but this is what everyone aspires to.
By the time I put in my Limelight order, they were buy one, get two free. They were pretty puny specimens (and I have a few other gripes with that order from Parks), but gave one to my MIL and one to my SIL, and kept one for home. Hope mine looks as lovely as yours someday, Cearbhaill! Won't be this year, I can tell you. Looks kind of like a pitiful stick with a few spotty leaves at this point.