Forsythia can be found in almost every ornamental garden. The bright yellow flowers are one of the harbingers of spring. However, the bushes are less popular with bees and other insects. Interesting facts about the popular spring bloomer.
How do I care for a forsythia in the garden?
Forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia) is a popular, yellow-flowering ornamental shrub. Known for its bright yellow in spring, it prefers a location with soil that is not too moist or too dry and requires regular pruning. Propagation occurs through cuttings, offshoots or planters.
Forsythia profile
- Botanical name: Forsythia x intermedia
- Crossing from: Forsythia suspensa × F. viridissima
- Popular names: Goldilocks, Golden Lilac, Pole-Blütler (Southern Germany)
- Family: Oleaceae
- Varieties: various breedings
- Plant group: ornamental shrub, spring bloomer
- Origin: Asia (China)
- Use: garden shrub, hedge plant, potted plant, bonsai, standard tree
- Growth habit: mesotonous
- Height: up to four meters, dwarf varieties up to two meters
- Flower color: light yellow, golden yellow, dark yellow, white
- Leaves: Green, elongated, jagged at the edge
- Evergreen: No, loses its leaves in autumn
- Branches: initially upright, later branching, occasionally overhanging
- Roots: shallow-rooted and richly branched, forms runners, older roots sometimes very compact
- Hardy: Completely hardy except for white forsythia
- Toxicity: slightly toxic, also for dogs and cats
- Special features: Hybrid, rarely fertile flowers
- Age: more than 30 years
What you should know about forsythia
Forsythia grow mesotonically, which means that new shoots usually sprout from inside the bush. They initially grow as upright rods. Over time they become woody at the bottom and branch out at the top.
The flowers appear before the leaves. Only when they have faded do the green leaves develop on the buds.
Flowers only grow on perennial shoots. Most of the flowers have branches that only sprouted the previous year.
What you need to know about care
- Location: Grows almost everywhere
- Planting time: spring
- Flowering time: March to May
- Propagation: cuttings, offshoots, sinkers
Forsythia must be cut regularly, otherwise they can get very out of hand and become lazy over time.
The ornamental shrubs tolerate radical pruning well even as old plants.
Other care is not complicated, as the shrubs thrive almost anywhere where the soil is neither too moist nor too dry.
Only known in Europe since 1833
Forsythia has not been grown in European gardens for long. The flowering ornamental shrub only came to Europe from China in 1833.
Tip
The ornamental shrub owes its name to the Scottish botanist William Forsyth. At the end of the 17th century, he was a British court gardener, among other things, responsible for Kensington Gardens.