Sunny Forsythia
Even though forsythia doesn’t produce nectar or pollen, I still enjoy seeing it’s sunny face in the garden during these early spring days. I’m sure it still provides habitat in some way, most likely in the thicket of stems and branches.
I’ve been contemplating adding a long hedge of forsythia along our driveway. We need something like it and I could propagate the entire hedge for free from the one bush we have. My parents have a huge forsythia hedge and it’s amazing most years. Every 10 years or so they cut it back to the ground and it is a little stunned for a few years, but the 5-7 years after the trimming it’s always a showstopper!
Do you have a forsythia in your garden? What’s your favorite early blooming shrub?
Filed under Around the Garden | Comments (8)
I really love Juneberry. It’s more of a small tree, but I love seeing the early flowers. I’m not much of a forsythia fan. I’d love to plant some red osier dogwood for all-year color. It would really brighten things up in the winter time.
to Joan's comment
I also love star magnolia… I have a pink one, and it’s been blooming for a month now.
to Joan's comment
I have some redtwig dogwood rooted I can give you. I forced the branches this winter and they rooted in the water.
to Susy's comment
I added forsythia this year as part of a mixed hide-the-neighbors-food-forest hedgerow. We get blooms much earlier here, around march. After a winter of cold, gray drizzle, it is a welcome sight. I have it next to my attempt at a winter garden, so I am hoping that there is a nice transition between the two.
to Kyle's comment
Any tips for helping forsythia bloom? Each spring mine has fewer and fewer blooms, and this year over four big bushes, I have just three flowers. I gave it a really good haircut last year in the hopes that would help. Maybe based on your parent’s experience it just needs some time to bounce back?
to Julia at Home on 129 Acres's comment
Yes, probably time to cut back. Pruning and weather can also affect forsythia.
to Susy's comment
I’ve just ordered some! I hadn’t thought of it as a hedge though and may rethink where to plant and how to use it. I was considering it as an accent along a fence line. They’re so cheerful!
to Jaye Whitney's comment
Susie, I have planted Rugosa Rose bushes all along the front of Terra Nova Gardens. It doesn’t exactly bloom in early Spring but the wild prickly bush look with flowers is exactly what I wanted when I planted them. It’s not as thick as I had hoped it would be just yet but in a few years it will be awesome. Gardening is a patient endevour, don’t you think.
Have a great Forsythia propagating day.
to Nebraska Dave's comment