Forsythia is pure joy. There is not an ounce, not a glimmer of sadness or even knowledge in forsythia. Pure, undiluted, untouched joy. —Anne Morrow Lindbergh

We can all use more joy in our gardens, and Anne Morrow Lindbergh saw clearly that this is a happy shrub. Forsythia reliably flowers in the very early days of spring, shouting out that the dark days will soon be over, and spring is on its way.

Forsythia is named after William Forsyth, the head of the royal gardens of Kensington Palace, near London, in the eighteenth century. These shrubs, also called Golden Bells, have been popular ever since then. They grow to about eight feet tall and six feet wide, and produce bright yellow flowers in early spring. This shrub is tough, and is hardy in zones 4-8.

Forsythia can be planted year round, though ideally when dormant, and prefers full sun to part shade. The more sun forsythia gets the more flowers it produces. When planting dig in a few shovels worth of peat moss or compost to lighten the soil. Once established add a tablespoon of a balanced fertilizer like 8-8-8 or 12-4-8 each March, May and July.

Some favorite forsythias are Showy Border, Beatrix Farrand, Lynwood Gold and Spring Glory. The bushes are hardy to zone 4 but blooms are hardy only to zone 5, so gardeners in cold climates welcome Northern Gold Forsythia which was bred in Ottawa, Canada and will reliably flower in zone 4.

Showy Border flowers from the base to the tip of branches, growing eight to ten feet tall and up to ten feet in width, with bright yellow flowers. Beatrix Farrand, eight to ten feet tall, has showy deep yellow flowers with orange markings, and Lynwood Gold has big golden yellow blooms and reaches six to eight feet tall. Pink Forsythia is a native of Korea, and produces soft pink flowers on a rounded five foot tall bush.

Sometimes an older bush will not flower, and usually that is caused by pruning at the wrong time. Forsythia flowers on last year’s growth, and as soon as blooming is done, prune it. If you wait four to six weeks after blooming to prune, you will be cutting out the branches for next year’s flowers.

A delightful aspect of forsythia is that in December or January you can cut a few branches, put them in the house in water, and in a few weeks they will have forced blooms, bringing their golden sunshine to your home.

Copyright © by Terra Hangen