My Potentilla

Very little pruning is usually required but you can trim it and cut out stragglers etc in the autumn. It will thrive in most areas. Mulch with a good compost every spring or you can feed it with blood and bone. Good luck I love mine

Mad, rather than cutting back, can you get someone to plant your Potentilla deeper than it is now. It will as said above need more nourishment autumn and spring.

Or yes, you can cut it back to a stump and give it a good feed and it will regenerate strongly (I have done this twice with one I inherited)

Doctorbob can you explain this a bit more please?

Thank you everyone for your replies. I have decided to take Andrewr's advice, but when can I cut it back?

Early spring (I did mine in the first half of April)

I know that you can 'drop' a heather but haven't heard of it for Potentilla. Basically, you dig the plant up in spring and replant in a much deeper hole so that the top half of the shoots are above ground, the plant then re-roots from the underground branches. It may be wiser to take some semi-ripe cuttings now and grow a new plant for yourself. Take 2-3 inch cuttings and root them in pots, they should root in about 3 weeks. Grow them on a bit and pot up singly in Spring.

I've lowered Hydrangeas, Privet, Forsythia, Praecox Rhododendrons, Spiraea and Lavender as well as Potentilla, in the autumn, all of which produced new life to aging bushes, many of which I've taken rooted cuttings from in the spring, planted out directly in a nursery bed. This process is not recommended on heavy soil unless the ground is prepared thoroughly with compost and grit.