Spiraea Japonica id/advice:

Elothir

Bit of a long shot possibly, but I have these Spiraea Japonica planted years ago which I'm debating about moving as they're struggling quite a bit and I wonder if it might be happier moved to a different spot. To be honest I thought they had died 6 years ago (no foliage at all etc) so let the Fuchsia next to them just grow out more and intended to dig them up/replace but never got around to it. However after pulling the Fuchsia around awhile ago, found they're actually still there somehow, just obviously not doing great having been swamped by a Fuchsia for 5 years.

These 2 pictures are from the year after they were planted, and are unfortunately the only photos of them with flowers I can easily get hold of at the moment, though they're not great and I know a photo of the whole plant would be better.

Anyway, I have a few spots I could try moving them too where they might be better off, and ideally would be next to each other rather than divided by a Fuchsia.

However it was so long ago I honestly can't remember what variety they are beyond being Spiraea Japonica's. So I was hoping someone might be able to throw out some suggestions as to what variety they might be, and what that means in terms of how much space they'll need as I know they can be anything from quite compact to huge.

At the moment they're planted a foot away from the Fuchsia on either side, and I don't see any reason we would have not put them at the spacing specified on the tags they came with as all three went into an empty bed at the same time, but who knows how accurate or reliable the tag information actually was.




Alternatively, if that spacing sounds about right, should I just leave them be and hope that with a drastic haircut to the Fuchsia they'll spring back next year? And if so any suggestions on how to help boost their recovery (though that also goes for if I were to move them).

Thanks.

Loxley

Impossible to tell the exact variety, probably 'Anthony Waterer'... but none are bigger the 1-1.5m range ('Nana' and 'Little Princess' are slightly smaller) and can be kept towards the lower end of that by hard pruning. 

Fairygirl

I'd agree with @WillDB, and you can prune by removing individual stems rather than just giving an overall haircut. That leaves a better shape, which you can then adjust by careful pruning to the remaining stems/branches.