Eddy writes
Hi.

When we moved in to this house a year ago we found the previous owners
had discarded this potted conifer over the back fence. It had one or
two signs of life on it so while we got on with other things we put it
in a shaded part of the garden and have kept it well watered over the
last 12 months. About two months ago it had hardly any needles on it,
so I put a good sprinkling of iron sulphate above the roots & kept
watering. Now it has a reasonable showing of blue-grey needles in tiny
individual clusters on several branches, none on others.

Can anyone tell me what it is?

And can anyone tell me if this is its natural state, i.e. just little
clusters of needles at the end of stalks, but no general overall
coverage.

No, it's not it's normal state. But the trouble with conifers is that
they don't generally re-sprout from old wood or (of course) dead wood.
I'd guess that the branches with no needles are probably dead. You can
try cutting back gently bit-by-bit on these. Live will have light colour
in middle, dead will be brown all through. If they are dead, remove
them. Then see what you have left and how much you like it.

It's a very attractive tree, and I think it would look reasonable if you
got rid of the big largely dead branch.
--
Kay