I agree, those are all great varieties. I ended up picking up a few firelights because from what I saw, at least at the nursery, the size of the flowers, density of the petals and color seemed to bring the best of the various paniculatas into one plant. I the coming years i'll find out how it performs in the garden.

I hear you. It usually comes to a matter of price for me. If they are asking a lot of money for the shrub, I wait. Most of the time, the new entries are ok though. This one does not appear to be on sale in too many mail order places so it looks like it has just started selling recently. It has not won any prizes yet so wait or get LL or VS. If it had won prizes from independent organizations, I might be tempted. This post was edited by luis_pr on Sun, Jan 18, 15 at 22:02

Pinky Winky is a fun plant, but mine is 8' tall x12' wide, so I think is out of the running for you, but if you want more info on it, I'll add more, including a photo. I love Quickfire - it's one of my favorite garden plants and without a doubt my favorite paniculata, though it isn't necessarily to everyone's taste. I really like the lacier blooms on paniculatas rather than the huge and super full ones, so if you prefer the more voluptuous ones, QF may not be for you. Its panicles are more oval and less cone-shaped than most, and large, but not enormous. Mine is in bloom from the last week in June until hard frost and progresses from bright white through salmon pink to a deep cherry pink. For me, QF is about 6' in all directions and has been about the same size for the last few years. The branches are stiff enough so that the panicles are always held up and it's a great scaffold for a clematis. The leaves turn a bit gold in the fall, but aren't spectacularly colored. I like leaving the dried blossoms on for the winter and then most years prune them off in early spring, though didn't get to it this year. QF with Clematis Little Bas in early July QF in August QF in fall

The color varies day-to-day and year-to-year, but this is what it looks like right now. I took this picture of Zinfin Doll® this morning (9.12.17). It will progressively turn red as it ages. In zone 5 full sun will give you the best color. Like all pee gee hydrangeas, they need moist soil when in bloom, otherwise they may scorch. A height of 6-10 ft will take a while. These plants were planted last year as 3 gallons and are about 3' tall. They are compact and typically about half the size of Limelight. It has strong stems and holds the blooms up nicely. A nice lasting gift!