How to prune these plants

bobwilson

I've just moved into this old house so I'm still discovering what everything is in the garden

Having posted a similar post, I have 2 more plants I'm looking for advice on

This one is a bit of a mess, should I be pruning it carefully cutting the dead parts out or lopping the whole thing back ready for spring? I don't know what it is but it looks similar to something I planted in a previous garden of mine that had yellow flowers:

 

 

 And these (below) look to me like they might be roses..

 

Can anyone ID this evergreen hedge? (below)... if I trim it back is it like evergreen trees that don't grow new leaves once you cut them off?

 

 Apologies for the bad photography, my good camera is still packed after the move so I took these on the phone camera .

 

bobwilson

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the evergreen hedge doesn't have any leaves on the inside.. so if you cut it back too far, you can see through it. Would the leaves grow back, or would it remain 'holy' as is the case with evergreen trees like pine..

Fairygirl

Your hedge looks like Portuguese laurel Bob so you can prune that back in spring. I know what you mean about it not having leaves on the inside. They do thicken up if you trim on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes people leave them for years then hack them back which is usually why they get like that. Normally you cut by hand to avoid chopping the large leaves as they look unsightly and die off, but i've done them with hedge trimmers and then just tidied up the 'chopped' ones with secateurs or shears. It's hard work by hand if it's a big stretch of hedge! I couldn't see the detail well enough on the other pics- sorry!

I need to go to Specsavers too!

nutcutlet

The hedge looks more like ordinary laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) to me. Portugal laurel has darker and not so wide leaves, and a different 'look' to it.

I haven't found that responds well to a hard prune. But it has responded well to a VERY hard prune. Taken off at the ankles it grew well, higher up and I got more die-back.

I can't get focussed on the first one., that's me to specsavers as well.

The rose needs a good prune.

punkdoc

I think the first one is a Hypericum that would respond to fairly brutal pruning

LeadFarmer

Laurel hedge. Cut it back however you want, and it will grow back. I have a very large laurel hedge and I lop the top 2 metres off it each spring. By the end of summer it has regrown to its original height.