Jill, I'm so glad that Malissa came out to help you. I became interested in Missouri natives in 1986. I was an hourly employee for MDC and a forester (now retired) was pretty knowledgeable about native plants which peaked my interest. I bought a copy of Denison's "Missouri Wildflowers" and became absolutely addicted. In 1987 I moved here and was able to observe a lot of plants in their natural setting. We have 40 acres in some pretty rugged Ozark deep draws and dry ridges. It's oak/hickory forests and is extremely rocky (car size boulders). I started growing natives and learning about seed collecting, etc. Over the years, we've noticed that our dry ridge with its accompanying draws has become more lush, the soil is better and the increase in species of birds is amazing. Along the way, I've had a lot of support from professionals at MDC. For the most part, these people are doing what they love and are dedicated to the resource. This forum is a great source of knowledge for natives. Somebody here knows the answer to about any question you might have. Keep in touch about your place and have fun!

@Shrubbish, I kinda thought it was a Weigela. Thanks for confirming.

dandy-line your leaves are alternate. If the leaves were opposite they would be directly opposite to each other on the stem. It is one of the points that help us make IDs. The pics were a bit unclear and folks just want to make sure you are getting a proper ID. That is a good thing. Your plant is still Campanuls glomerata alba.

What you describe is the natural progression of hydrangea blooms. Regardless of what type of blooms you have, they start a certain color. Then as the blooms fade, they change colors ending in brown. At this point, you can leave the brown blooms for winter interest or you can deadhead them. Transplanting and planting for the first time may have altered the normal color progression so I would not worry that it did not do that last year. The further south you are and the higher the temperatures, the faster this process can kick start. In this weird year, my shrubs began to flower early in March and the blooms turned brown about 2 weeks ago or so. As for what type of hydrangea, gift hydrangeas tend to be H. macrophyllas and are sold in grocery stores or florists. If the gift was a plant that someone propagated, it could be anything but H. macrophylla is the most common. Some newer H. macrophylla and H. serratas are re-bloomers too and, when you deadhead the blooms, that triggers the plant to produce blooms again. These two types of hydrangeas (the rebloomers and the once bloomers) normally produce invisible flower buds in July-August at the ends of the stems and they open in the Spring. Re-bloomers then also develop invisible flower buds again in May or June and these open in July-August. Other varieties of hydrangea that produce white blooms are H. arborescens (has white mophead-like blooms) and H. paniculata (has panicle-like blooms). These develop invisible flower buds in May-June and then flower in July-August. With few exceptions, these only produce white blooms. Below is a link to a website that can help you identify which kind of hydrangea you have for sure and it has lots of pictures that you can use to compare. The most common hydrangea is H. macrophylla and its blooms are in the forms of mopheads or lacecaps so people just call the plants mopheads or lacecaps. To tell which kind of hydrangea you have, click here: http://hydrangeashydrangeas.com/identify.html For information on deadheading or information on pruning, click here: http://hydrangeashydrangeas.com/pruning.html Feel free to spend time in the website as it has lots in interesting information. To keep the soil moisture in check, try using the finger method: insert a finger into a soil early in the mornings to a depth of 4" and water if the soil feels dry or almost dry. One gallon of water per watering is probably ok in Spring, Fall and Winter. About 1.5 gallons may be needed in the Summer. Once the plant goes dormant, you can water 1g once a week or once every two weeks if it is rainy. Continue like that thru Spring but stop if your soil freezes in Winter. Keep the plant well mulched all year around up to the drip line and feed it nce in Spring with 1/2 to 1 cup of organic compost, composted manure or cottonseed meal. It may be late to mention this since you planted last year but, lower part of the states, hydrangeas will do best in morning sun and afternoon shade. But it already sounds like yours is doing very well right where it is. To make sure that they blooms reliably, H. macrophylla mophead and lacecaps in cold zones are usually winter protected. You can find more information about this by doing a find in the forum for 'winter protection'. Luis