Gardening PSA: Forsythia (yellow banana looking flowers in bloom now)

For anyone that has an overgrown, untidy Forsythia shrub like me, this is a good time of year to do a little maintenance.

Yours should be flowering now or about to shortly. You can put a tie wrap around any branch that doesn't produce flowers so you can cut them to the ground. Then, when it's done flowering, you can shear those shrubs back to whatever length you want. They WILL grow back, even if you cut them to the ground. They're really hardy.

An example of what my leggy, untidy forsythia looks like:



What I'm going to be striving for with my pruning:

Re: Gardening PSA: Forsythia (yellow banana looking flowers in bloom now)

Thank you! Mine's a mess & I wasn't sure when to cut back.
I like the idea of marking the branches to cut later.

Re: Gardening PSA: Forsythia (yellow banana looking flowers in bloom now)

I don't have a forsythia - I just wanted to say that I LOVE them. They're my favorite spring/summer flower.

Re: Gardening PSA: Forsythia (yellow banana looking flowers in bloom now)

I don't have one either, but when I see them I feel happy because I know Spring is finally here.

Re: Gardening PSA: Forsythia (yellow banana looking flowers in bloom now)

mine is not flowering yet, but its budding. it is a heaping mess!! the previous owners didn't care fo it. it has tons of other weed/sticker bush type things all intertwined with it. I don't think it can be saved I really love the way forsythia looks but I don't think mine has a chance

Re: Gardening PSA: Forsythia (yellow banana looking flowers in bloom now)

I'm telling you, cut it to the ground and it will start all over again! Unless you dig it out of the ground, it's probably impossible to kill.

I'd get the vines pulled out of the ground before they really start going though, so it doesn't get infested again.

Re: Gardening PSA: Forsythia (yellow banana looking flowers in bloom now)