On Apr 18, 10:54 am, La Puce wrote:
On 18 Apr, 09:07, greg wrote:

There's also a scruffy looking hedge at the front that we thought was
completely dead at first. From looking round the local garden centre,
I think it might be a Potentilla (Goldfinger?) - some yellow flowers
are just starting to come out.

What's the best way to look after it? It looks like it needs a good
trim & is quite thin and scrawny at the base of each stem in the
hedge, but I'm not sure how, or when.

An early flowering one! (I don't like the yellow ones) but love the
Miss Wilmot one and never found one (or forget that I'd like one,
which is a good thing since I've got not a lot of room left!). You're
a bit late for pruning it - sounds like it could benefit from a hard
pruning, you can go down to 1ft. Ideally March is a good time. Can you
leave with it as it is and see if you enjoy it - then prune it next
March or get rid of it ...!

I cut stuff back all year round where necessary and while it might not
be ideal, nature usually isn't so fragile that it can't recover.