forsythia says spring

Southern Living, Feb 2005 by Bender, Steve

Winter officially ends when this favorite shrub flaunts its yellow blooms.

a calendar is a marvelous thing. It can tell you when George Washington was born, when your taxes are due, and the exact days each year that (if you value your life) you'd better take your wife out to dinner.

It's ironic, then, that one of its primary functions-demarcating the seasons-isn't at all vital. For no one really needs a calendar to know when winter passes into spring. You need only open your eyes and see the golden blooms of forsythia.

Granted, many other plants bloom on the cusp of spring. Flowering quince, common camellia, star magnolia, and crocus all assure us with their flowers that longer, milder days await. But no other plant affects us the way that forsythia does. Its bright yellow blossoms are warm sunshine on our spirits. They incite us to smile and dream.

Ring the Yellow Bells

Border forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia), or yellow bells as Southerners often call it, has been with us so long we assume it's a native. But it's actually a hybrid form of two Asian species-weeping forsythia (F. suspensa) and greenstem forsythia (F. viridissima). The weird thing is, neither of these is terribly showy. But when combined, they produce an easy-care shrub that's a flowering phenom.

As soon as temperatures rise into the sixties, hundreds upon hundreds of school bus yellow flowers smother the length of border forsythia's still-naked branches for two weeks or more. The sight grabs your eye like a caution light. After leafing out, the plant grows fast. Upright- to- arching branches form a large shrub, roughly 7 to 10 feet tall and wide. Colorful fall foliage isn't guaranteed, but in some years, the leaves turn purplish-red.

Garden centers and mail-order nurseries offer superior selections, including primrose yellow 'Spring Glory,' golden-flowered 'Lynwood' and 'Spectabilis,' and extra cold-hardy 'Meadowlark' and 'Northern Sun,' which perform well in the Upper South and Midwest. If you like yellowleaved plants, you might try 'Golden Times' (although personally, it sends me running from the garden screaming). 'Goldtide' is a good choice for small gardens. This graceful, cascading shrub features lemon yellow blossoms and grows only 2 feet tall.

In the Garden

Because of its deciduous nature and rank growth, forsythia isn't a good foundation plant for most homes. In fact, it looks best when given plenty of elbow room and allowed to achieve its natural, arching form. Try planting sweeps of it alongside streets and driveways or massing it on hillsides. Or grow it as an informal, undipped hedge. If you delight in showing plants who's boss, you can also shear forsythia into a formal hedge. Just realize that the repeated shearing necessary to maintain this shape will cut off most of next year's flowers; and aren't they the reason you want forsythia in the first place?

How To Grow

Forsythia isn't fussy. Give it full sun and well-drained soil. Spring is a great time to plant, but you can set out shrubs growing in containers in summer and fall too. Unfortunately, forsythia doesn't bloom well in the Coastal and Tropical South. Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum), a cascading shrub that has yellow flowers in winter, makes a decent substitute. Or you can buy cut forsythia branches in bloom from the florist and display them in a vase indoors.

Pruning Dos and Don'ts

Don't prune your forsythia into a cube, trapezoid, parallelogram, octagon, or any other shape you remember from eighth grade geometry. Unless you're trying to create a formal hedge, prune forsythia once in spring after it finishes blooming, and then just leave it alone for the rest of the year. Cut off a few of the oldest, woodiest canes at ground level each year to encourage fresh, more vigorous growth. Or you can be merciless and cut the whole plant to the ground after it flowers. It'll grow back to a nice-size shrub in just a few months and bloom beautifully the following spring.