Hydrangeas: Some questions about my first Hydrangea, 0 by VirginiaPesto

VirginiaPesto wrote:
Hello All, I've been doing veggie gardening for a few years, but I am very new to the flowering stuff. Oddly enough, I decided to buy a little shoebox house from a lady... who had gardened & planted there for 45 years. :)

One of her favorite plants, and one of the more colorful, is the old hydrangea out front. I think it is in need of a pruning, but in reading around, I may have missed this summers window. Any thoughts?

When I do, do I have to prune to the ground always, or can some stems be trimmed off?

Any other advice, would be welcome, I'm attaching a couple of pictures to assist my horrid description.

Chris