Forgiving Forsythia: From Here to There to Here, Again

Forsythia ‘Gold Tide’. A smaller, forgiving forsythia that melts into the background of the garden after it blooms. Mine top out at around three, maybe four feet.

Forgiving because though it spreads and gets wider with running roots, it’s easy to yank those outer branches out, cut the runners, and toss them. Or you can sever those runners from the mother plant with a sharp spade and then go back later—I suggest fall—and dig out the resulting self-sufficient stems to plant elsewhere or give away.

Forgiving because I originally had these forsythia shrubs in the front garden but moved them to the back garden ten years ago.

The spot where they were in the front garden is in full sun and whatever I plant there seems to struggle. Though I honestly don’t recall if these struggled, or at the time I thought that it would be better to have roses in that spot in front—yellow roses—and have more color throughout the summer.

The roses are already gone. Not because they were not good plants but because over time, they got too big and woody and I kept bumping into them and their thorns whenever I turned on the faucet that was behind them.

I planted some hydrangeas in their place. In hindsight, that was also not a great choice for various reasons.

Now, add my bird feeding station in the middle of that hard-to-get-good-stuff-to-grow spot, which I did last summer because it is right outside my den window. That makes it even tougher for plants, with all those seeds and bird mess on the ground around the feeder station.

DId I mention this spot is in my front garden, the garden that people see as they walk or drive past. Hopefully, their eyes are drawn to the other side of the front walk where the nice crabapple grows with a variety of plants at its feet.

Now seeing these forsythia blooming on a rainy day, I think that they might actually be just the shrub for that front garden bed, to add a spot of color in the spring. And they would probably do okay with the bird feeders around them.

Yes, that garden bed where they came from ten years ago.

Later this summer, I’m going to look for some good runners on this forsythia to sever from the mother plant with a sharp spade. Then this fall, I’ll dig them up and plant them in this front garden bed. I am feeling more and more confident they’ll survive the hot sun, the bird feeding station, and at least for a week or two in the spring, when they are blooming, cause passersby to look right at them.

Forsythia ‘Gold Tide’. I do apologize. You are so forgiving. I might have had you in the right spot after all.