Marie, I don't always trim back Annabelle. IME when pruned hard there are fewer but larger flowers and the stems are softer, and so in my garden, it makes them a bit floppier. When left unpruned, the woodier stems and smaller flowers allow it to stay upright even though there is more growth. YMMV, and if you want you should still be able to whack it back hard without issues.

well, I don´t have the time or energy for this year, so Iĺl wait till its completely leafed out and cut back and out the dead branches.

Cuttng back has worked well for 15 years. They don´t flop in the rain, don´t break etc.

All these years and it probably didn´t matter!

Thanks for the information.

Marie, if you get out the old-fashioned hedge shears, you can just whack off the old blooms now and call it good for the season. IME everything else disappears under the foliage. Here is when mine was totally out of control as far as suckering. There are dead branches in there, but you would never know. You could always set up some rebar and rope now, preventively, since then that will also disappear under the foliage.