Panicle Hydrangea 'Quick Fire'

Excellent medium-sized panicle hydrangea that begins blooming in late May, much earlier than most of its cousins. Bought mine as a 3-gall...Read Moreon in late 2009 and its now reached its advertised mature height. Blooms start cream/white and quickly turn hot pink/magenta and then fade to a more rosy color.

Fair warning, however: Do NOT, NOT, NOT prune/trim this any time after September. If you do you risk programming it not to bloom the following season. Follow this rule and you will be rewarded.

Observed this 'Bulk' paniculata, label said, hydrangea on
12 degree snowy day, Mt Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Ma.
Multip...Read Morele, delicate, cream colored (dried) flower heads all dangling upside down and blowing in the snowy breeze.
Exquisitely beautiful.

I usually push the zones and so have a Quickfire in my zone 4 garden, under some lilacs. It receives morning sun and the rest of the day ...Read Moreis shaded. I have had it two years and am thrilled with the flowering capacity! Its beautiful and in the time I have had it , it went from a small one foot "stick" to a full bush of about 3.5 x 3 feet. I only wish I had more! I am going to post a photo.

I think this is my favorite hydrangea. I planted it last fall, and it has grown and bloomed wonderfully all summer. The flowers start o...Read Moreut as bright white and then start to change to pink. As the summer goes on, the pink slowly gets darker. The blooms are lacy and plentiful, and I also really like the reddish stems. This is just a really attractive flowering shrub.
Update summer 2013: Love, Love, Love this hydrangea. As of July 30 it has already been blooming for almost a month, and the blossoms are just starting to change from white to pink. And the flowers are fragrant! Another update: as of the end of September, the flowers are a sort of deep rose pink. So this is going on almost three months of bloom with no sign of decline yet.

received 'Quickfire' as a tiny baby, BEFORE it was commercially available. This will be the first year with any significant blooms - can...Read More't wait!
edited to add: as you might guess from all my photos, I'm loving the nearly brick-pink color these panicles are developing.
More (2015): This lovely hydrangea gets big! Also it has a fantastic fragrance which fills the front yard all summer. I'm not sure of its full size because I keep pruning it (chopping it down).