Need some advice...Hydrangea, hollyhocks, goatsbeard

I'm brand new to Dave's Garden, and am excited to be part of this community. I've been gardening for over 20 years, mostly learning by trial & error, and as much as I love to learn about gardening, I also love to help infect others with the garden bug! Thanks in advance for your collaboration.

I made a haul today in local trades. Going to trade with a woman I met online, I noticed a lush, happy line of Hydrangea on the side of an old house. After picking up Hollyhocks from the online friend, I stopped by the old farmhouse & asked if I could "help" him thin his Hydrangea, he said sure & I noticed he had just as many goatsbeard, and he said I can take some of them. Yippee!

So, I am curious about this type of Hydrangea. The flowers are a sort of green-white. Is that because they aren't open yet? There were a few heads in the bunch at his house that were PURE white & very fragrant. Are those a different kind, or is it just that I got mine before the blooms were mature? I realize that it would probably have been better to have waited until after they finished blooming, but the opportunity was there, so I took it. They are all soaking in water right now, while I decide the best places to plant them.

The photo is of the blooms on the Hydrangea.

Also, this is the second bunch of hollyhocks she gave me, since they are seeding themselves ALL over her garden. Some were fairly large & I planted them after soaking them overnight & am watering daily. The tall stems are lying on the ground (of course), but they have little bits of growth standing tall & happy. Can I cut off the top growth, or do they need that to help the stems grow? I'm not very familiar with Hollyhocks, so I'm kinda clueless & want to be sure this latest batch gets planted & is happy & healthy.

And if anyone has feedback on the goatsbeard, I'd love to hear it. I have a spot for them, but have not grown them before, so any advice would be appreciated.

Welcome to Dave's Garden! I'm not one of the regulars in this forum - just pop in and out on occasion.

I think the hydrangea are a type of hydrangea arborescens - I have 'Annabelle', which is very common. The blooms start out greenish, get pure white, then turn back again into to greenish and then kind of an amber as they age. I don't prune them off until spring when it gets new growth - I like how the seedheads look in winter.

Peg

Peg, when do these bloom for you? You're only 2 hours from me, so it should be about the same time as here. I wonder if these are on the downward swing.

Late June or so - I don't keep the best records. Mine are on the downward side, now.

I also have one goatsbeard, which is doing well in light shade. I don't deadhead it, either, because I like how the dried plumes look. If I get some time later today I'll post pictures.

Peg

ptilda those hydrangeas look like annabelle to me. I have those and like Peg's, mine are on the downward and have turned green. The flowers will later turn brown and dry ... I leave them on all winter too and cut them down in the spring. One thing you can also do when the blooms turn green is to cut them and put them into a vase without water. They will dry and stay perfect.

Welcome to Dave's Garden! And congratulations on all those great trades.

I agree, the hydrangea looks like Annabelle or something very similar. Either way, they bloom on new and old wood, so you won't have to be particularly careful about pruning or worried about frost damage. Annabelle is a very easy hydrangea, in my opinion. :)

Hollyhocks are biennial, which means they grow foliage one season, go through a dormant period, and then flower and set seed the next. I've heard of people getting hollyhocks to act more perennial in nature by cutting them back after they're done flowering. Do yours have seedheads on them, or are they just foliage right now? If all you've got is foliage, I'd probably cut them back to the basal foliage (the fresher foliage at the base of the plant). That should tidy them up. If you have seedheads, you might want to let them set seed to assure you'll have plants next year.

I can't really comment on goatsbeard. I've had it in my garden since this spring, but it doesn't seem to like it here--probably too dry. I'd say it needs quite a bit of water to get established, because aruncus does like moisture. Maybe it'll like the environment you're offering more than it likes mine. hehe