Gorgeous spring day

The last few days just have been absolutely gorgeous and I have been wanting to do gardening sooo badly. Unfortunately there are too many other things going on at the moment and no real gardening has occurred as of yet.
Some of our first tulips are blooming and a patch of daffodils is out as well! Very nice, and pictures will hopefully be following shortly.
I did some minor pruning on our hydrangea. I am not entirely sure which kind of hydrangeas it is, but after reading a few websites I am almost certain it is H. arborescens better known as 'Annabelle'. According to the websites I read, you should prune the heads off the stem, it is best to do this in the fall, but spring works also, before it really starts doing a lot of growing. You're supposed to trim it down to wear the life starts in the plant, but if you want the stems to become thicker, stronger and better at supporting the weight of the huge blooms this shrub produces, it is best to leave it about 18"-24" tall at least, so it grows taller and stronger. You can prune it back to the ground if need be though. It is also recommended that stakes or gaze is used to help support the shrub and not all stems break or bend under the weight of the flowers, especially after a rain fall when they are very heavy, which is exactly what happened last year.
This year I will have to make sure to come up with a better support system, and I didnt prune the stems down nearly as far as last year. I only took the heads off until the first buds that looked healthy, so hopefully the shrub will grow bigger and stronger this year.