What you describe, klacy, seems to be a hydrangea planted out of zone. Under that scenario, the stems dry out during winter and the plant growth always originates from the crown or the bottom. The stems never leaf out because they cannot handle the cold winter temperatures and drying winds. Your zones in NW Arkansas probably are around a Zone 6 location so try hydrangeas good for that type of zone. H. macrophylla Endless Summer and Forever & Ever Series; H. arborescens Annabelle and H. paniculatas, for example.

Hi Shannon, Although far from being an expert (I don't even think I deserve amateur status yet) I thought I would respond to your question since I've been doing quite a bit of research on these very same (or very similar) critters. I have some morning glory seedlings that have an infestation of some sort in the surrounding soil. I posted a question and link on the Growing from Seed forum a few days ago. I thought I had it figured out and that what I was seeing were called symphylans (do a google search or follow the link below). But I kept reading that symphylans are wary of light and I kept seeing these things on top of the soil. So now I think they could be newly hatched centipedes, which look quite similar (I hope anyway - check out: http://www.ent3.orst.edu/smartkey/display.cfm?pagename=Centipedes&groupname=nogroup) However, your grain of rice reference sounds like soil mealy bugs, but you say they are fast moving and I don't think that these bugs are very mobile (not sure though). It's strange, I searched all over these forums for information on these critters and couldn't find anything. You are now the third person (myself included) that has asked about this in the last few days. There is even another post in this forum from a yesterday that has another link (my original link) to a page about symphylans. At least I finally get to ANSWER a question for once. Good luck. Let me know what you find out and if your solution works. Here is a link that might be useful: symphylans

There are alot of tutorials on making these flowers on you tube. I will have to check out the one Jeanne shared. Here's a bolg that has some pretty flowers too. I didn't see the one that I really liked before. My DGD and DM made so many crafts and yes 'Rusty' they made kleenex tissue flowers in the 60's.lol Hope you make some and share pictures with us. Punk Here is a link that might be useful: Two shades of pink

Thanks everyone. I thought that the rocks may be a problem. I just didn't think that it could be this bad. Pulling the rocks back and mulching them was actually on my list but I will definitely do it sooner than later. The sulfer/iron was due to extreme whitening/yellowing in some leaves with dark green veins. Our soil here isn't very acidic. The leaves have greened up a bit so I think the browning/crisping is a separate issue and probably the rocks base on everyone's feedback on this and another forum. They are on the east side up against the house, against the house. They house is taupe vs white but a lighter color none-the-less. They only get early morning to early afternoon sun, then the house shades them the rest of the day. I figured this would be enough shade and the local nursery said the same thing. I have more experience with vegetable gardens than I do with flowers and bushes.