History: This plant (a macrophylla, I think) originally grew on the north side of the house near the chimney. It was transplanted when the addition was added in 2007 and may have been moved again to its current location in the back yard in the southwest corner near the large flowerbed.
Care: I try to do as little as possible with this plant because I’ve had conflicting advice about pruning.
Notes: Here’s a mention from FineGardening.com regarding pruning:
Those that bloom on old growth should only be pruned after flowering. Others bloom on new growth and should be pruned before they wake up in spring or as they are going dormant in fall.
I think the new blooms on this plant are from new wood, so I can probably trim back the older canes without harming the flowers.
2015: We had a wet June and noticed one bloom low on the plant in July and another, smaller and higher up, in August. Both were pink and looked like they were on new growth.
Resources:
FineGardening.com: http://www.finegardening.com/pruning-hydrangeas
WikiHow; How to prune hydrangeas: http://www.wikihow.com/Prune-Hydrangeas