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Sunny Forsythia

May 10th, 2016

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.
forsythia 1
forsythia 2
forsythia 3
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?

8 Comments to “Sunny Forsythia”
  1. Joan on May 10, 2016 at 9:31 am

    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.

    Reply to Joan's comment

    • Joan on May 10, 2016 at 9:33 am

      I also love star magnolia… I have a pink one, and it’s been blooming for a month now.

      Reply to Joan's comment

      • Susy on May 10, 2016 at 2:01 pm

        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

  2. Kyle on May 10, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    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.

    Reply to Kyle's comment

  3. Julia at Home on 129 Acres on May 10, 2016 at 9:28 pm

    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?

    Reply to Julia at Home on 129 Acres's comment

    • Susy on May 12, 2016 at 8:52 pm

      Yes, probably time to cut back. Pruning and weather can also affect forsythia.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  4. Jaye Whitney on May 11, 2016 at 6:23 am

    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!

    Reply to Jaye Whitney's comment

  5. Nebraska Dave on May 13, 2016 at 7:29 am

    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.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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