Forsythia question

We have two forsythia bushes that in past years were filled out nicely and full of buds. This year, they look really pitiful. What would account for them only having a bud popping here and there? They may not be getting enough sun, but I find it strange that the pine trees that are around don't seem to be much different looking than years past, so I wouldn't think it was the amount of sun they are getting. But then again, it could be lack of sun.

Has anyone else ever had this problem and how was it resolved?

Thanks all.

Ruby

They probably justs need a good "rejuvenation pruning". Next Winter, when they are dormant, you might consider cutting them back to the ground (and by that, I mean a good 1 - 2 ft from the ground). When was the last time that they were cut way back like that?

Do you know what? The answer to that question is NEVER. Well, actually John just said about ten years ago he pruned them. Thank you so much for the advice. I would bet my bottom dollar that you are correct on this. We will do, next Winter. Thank you so much Wrightie.

Ruby

You can thank Joel Lerner for that tip -- he taught us that in one of my landscape design classes while we were tromping all over the National Mall looking at the landscaping there.

I wish I had a forsythia here - I love 'em.

Sorry to oppose wrightie- she's wright about everything else I know of, but...

Ruby ___ Cut it back now!! It will grow back all summer and make long stems that should be full of buds. You can't kill these things Take it all to a foot or two, or at least take most of the fatter older branches down. New growth iwill come from below or on stubs

W Take mine !!!!! Seriously! I can give you buckets. But you might rather get a newwer cultivar. These are probablly thirty years old. Some I think tend to be more erect than others.

Oh, I wasn't sure if doing it now is "kosher" or not ... by all means, RUBY, HACK THAT BABY TO THE GROUND!!! HURRY!!!

Thanks, S. If had the room for one, I would have planted one by now. I am having to get more and more picky in my choices as real estate is at a premium on this postage stamp. LOL, I know that they definitely are not everyone's cuppa cha!

wrightie- they are so rangy !! now if someone could develop a Forsythia nana cultivar, that might be cute

Actually, you should wait and prune it right after it finishes blooming. Or you can do it now but for goodness sakes don't wait until winter.

Most flowering shrubs should be pruned after blooming.

I should explain the reason why is the new branches and buds for next year will start forming right after blooming. If you wait until winter to prune, you'll have little or no bloom next year.

This message was edited Apr 7, 2008 10:41 PM

Actually Sally, I'll planning to get a Gold Tide forsythia, which is very low growing. And Foxnfirefly (where has she been?) has another low growing cultivar, Dwarf Arnold forsythia, in her garden that her brother-in-law, WHO OWNS A NURSERY, swears by. Some people pick their relatives well.

snort!!! yeah like rcn--
so wrightie has some definite candidates for an airlayered forsythia of her own!!

LOL -- I almost edited my post to mention RCN last night. Some people have all the luck! In my family, I'm lucky in the hostas don't get mowed down like weeds.

Happy...."I'm lucky in the hostas don't get mowed down like weeds."

Thanks! ROFLOL I just sprayed coffee all over my computer screen! I'm with you there girl!

Thanks everyone. After the blooms, will give it a nice good trim. I like them too Wrightie. These both have almost twenty years of growing where they sit. i don't remember planting them, so i am thinking that my parents must have planted them here at some point.

I will let you all know how they do next year.

Ruby

Wrightie - I just saw some new 2-3 ft cultivars, can't remember the site, other than that it is one of Dave's TOP 30, surf the web and good luck!!! Pam

Groovy - thanks, Pam.

Ruby, I could swear that my instructor told us to renuv' prune in Winter, but I could very well have been mistaken. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused.

Wrightie, you may have confused what he said with pruning summer flowering shrubs. They will still have time to grow new branches and buds before flowering if you prune them in late winter.

Ruby, if you want more forsythias, you can easily root those trimmings in water or even by sticking them in the ground if the ground isn't too dry.

Hart, no, I specifically remember the details of the forsythia on the Smithsonian's grounds. I'm familiar with general pruning techniques. My thought on this is that a "rejuvenation pruning" is far more invasive to the shrub than the usual maintenance pruning and that that's why he recommended waiting until it was dormant. Like I said, I may have misunderstood something in the translation - who knows, it happened 10 yrs ago.

I know you can cut them just about to the ground after flowering and it won't hurt them but maybe they're more cautious. You certainly would be eliminating any blooms for that year but if you're rejuvenating I guess that doesn't matter.

We were admiring a lot of forsythias yesterday. There's one place along the road across the mountain where they have a whole row of them planted right next to the road. They chop them down to nubs every 2 or 3 years I guess so they won't grow into the road.

I definitely don't like the yellow balls some people make of their forsythia by pruning them into rounds. One yard had a set of big yellow balls all across the front.

It's amazing the difference between the older varieties and the newer ones. The new ones have darker, brighter colors and are much more filled with blooms.

Some of the quinces are starting to bloom too. That's a real classic combination at a lot of the older places - yellow forsythia and salmon quince.

Oh my gosh, I was noticing the same things while driving through some beautiful old neighborhoods yesterday. I do not think that a forsythia should be sheared into any sort of un-natural shape, such as a clipped hedge or "ball". They look so much better, imo, being left to their natural, graceful habit.

Thanks everyone. So, I will let John decide when and how much he cuts back. I will have him read this thread first though. Hart, I would love to start some more bushes growing and will have to remember to try this.

Ruby

All of mine but one came from cuttings from my mom's forsythia. She stuck them in a bucket of water until they rooted.

I prefer just about anything in its natural form unless it's a really cool topiary or a real hedge. But the forsythia looks particularly awful when it's blooming and people have big yellow balls in their yards. LOL

There was a Gardener's Diary episode where people had made a huge topiary cat face in their garden and copied a Thai face sculpture in topiary too. Did you see that? It was gorgeous.

Is Gardener's Diary a tv show? lol

Yes, it's on HGTV. They just finally started showing it again. It's on at something like 6 or 7 am on Thursdays I believe. The episode I'm talking about had something like Thai garden in the title.

Aha! Here it is. There's a picture of the human head.
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_landscaping_design/article/0,1785,HGTV_3596_5530358,00.html

Cool. I've got Cable/Satellite envy (sort of!).

Ooops, just read this thread about pruning - mine was getting a little unruly - so I took the pruners to it a few weeks ago - growing really, really well right now :-)

Ah, one learns as one goes on :-)

I come from a line of forsythia fighters- Well. one at least! My mom always seemed to be hacking down the row of F we had. Then I got 'ed-you-cated' and thought why doesn't she thin it bla bla the way the book says?
At least I had enough sense not to tell her what I thought- because I'd have to eat my words now . It grows like crazy- You should probably almost treat it like a butterfly bush and cut it all the way down yearly because I have seen the long branches it can make in one summer.

I like Forsythia as a specimen or accent plant. It's a "less is more" kind of shrub, imo. If I bought a place that had a hedge row of it, I'd probably end up hating it. :)

Sally, you just reminded me that we didn't prune our Butterfly Bush this year. Is it too late now? I haven't checked it for buds yet.

Last evening John pulled out a 40 year old Plant Encyclopedia and it says to prune after blooming.

He has another of the same set of Encyclopedia out now and it is saying to prune Butterfly Bush during the spring. So, i suppose that we answered our own question. Would love to hear any comments on BB bushes that anyone has though. Thank you very much.

Ruby

Ruby, my butterfly bushes get cut down in the fall, so that heavy wet snows do not break them, or pull them out of the ground. I find that they grow new branches from the bottom. One fall I didn't get to them and trimed them down in the spring. Cutting them back to about 1 1/2 ft.

And if one looks dead, don't pull it out yet, some take longer to wake up in spring.

I pruned my butterfly bushes today. I've pruned them in the middle of summer. It won't hurt them.

I prune the spent flowers on buddleia throughout the season -- some of them are invasive, so I don't like to let them go to seed. I'm not even sure if mine are naughty or not, but I'd rather be cautious.

I think the standard advice is prune to about a foot-18 inches in late winter, before they put on a lot of new growth, and to prune in summer just trimming to remove spent flower heads. You will see them in parks etc never trimmed. I'm guessing eventually the never trimmed get pretty unruly. I'm bad about the deadheading part. but good on the winter prune cuz usually there's a day when I'm itching for something to do, and pruning is about it in late winter.

Thanks again everyone. With everyone's help, I am sure that they will do better next year.

Ruby