Please can someone tell me what tree this is and do they agree that it is in a bad way and how to go about pruning it! Many thanks...in anticipatio
Tamarix gallica (tamarisk). http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/BIS/flora.php?selected=beschrijving&menuentry=soorten&id=2188 Re pruning: it has a few dead twigs (the pale orange-brown ones) which could be pruned out. The overall shape is less easy to control, it is always a rather scruffy shrub.
"Prune established plants annually, removing weak growth and cutting back flowered stems to strong sideshoots" "To renovate overgrown specimens and hedges, cut back hard into the old wood. Plants may not flower again for at least two years" --Christopher Brickell/David Joyce, PRUNING & TRAINING (DK)