Potentilla and spiraea, but what type and therefore when to prune?

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Trying to make good use of self isolation to catch up with garden and plan ahead. My instinct is to hack away at both of these as they look a bit dead right now. I think that would be okay if the spiraea is late flowering, and the potentilla is herbaceous. Am I going to wreck either of them if I'm wrong though? I'm pretty sure the spiraea was still flowering when we moved in (August). If anyone can advise I'd be very grateful. Photos in a moment.

Potentilla, it was lovely when it flowered, orange flowers, bees liked it.

Spiraea.

That isn't a herbaceous potentialla, it's a shrubby one.
When I hacked our spiraea in winter, it didn't flower the following spring.

All you can do is cut back and see what effect it has, they both need some attention

potentilla

Thanks! Pretty much everything needs attention!

Always the way with gardens it seems and when you have time, it's raining sideways etc :(

As a general rule of thumb, if you can’t find better info, prune everything just after it finishes flowering.

Except if it flowers late summer you may want to prune late winter rather than early winter.

And you’ll need to delay pruning if you want the berries. In which case, late winter is a good time.

That’s not ideal pruning, it’s good enough to keep going until you’ve learnt all the nuances

Thanks. Frustrated that I missed the time to prune last year and I'll have to wait now. Hopefully it won't hurt much and they'll just be a bit messy. We discovered after we moved in that the house had been unoccupied for at least a couple of years. Some gardening has been done, but not all, so you'd think they would carry on.

I was a bit concerned about the number of things that want pruning after danger of frost has passed. DM said for Scotland, ignore or you won't be starting till May.

When, I say they would carry on, I mean the plants will trundle on, if imperfectly. Read it back and it looked like I thought a mysterious gardener would emerge.

I would leave that Spirea alone until it flowers later in the year. As soon as the flowers fade then give it a clip and it will come back and if the early autumn is mild you might get a second flush of flowers. A light trim each year stops them getting too leggy.

Thanks, this board is a godsend for my gardening doubts.

They are both deciduous shrubs and have just lost their leaves for winter. So they don't really need pruning at all unless you want to shape them a bit.

Thanks, I was worried I might have spoiled them somehow.

Pruning is done for your benefit, not the plant’s. It maybe encourage more flowers, but the plant doesn’t need the extra flowers. So don’t worry about missing it.

Thanks, I could do with a "like" button or something. I want to acknowledge people's advice, but I keep bumping my own thread.