I have 5 forsythia bushes on my new property. The sellers shaped them and it appears some have a gnarly “lean” to them like the pictures show. I’ve never had any of these before…any advice?
Forsythias are pretty forgiving and respond well to pruning. If some have a lean or uneven growth, you can cut back older, woody stems to the ground to encourage new upright shoots in spring. Try to keep the center open so air and light reach all parts of the bush. For shaping, prune right after they finish flowering so you don’t cut off next year’s blooms. You can also gently tie or support any leaning branches temporarily while they strengthen, but most will naturally straighten as new growth comes in.
4oclocksundew
Forsythia are extremely hardy! They are invasive where I live (eastern US), so I technically should get rid of the couple shrubs in my yard, but I’ve been keeping them to practice my pruning because you really cannot mess them up. You prune them after they flower and they have turned all green. They really are great to experiment with because you can cut them here, there, or all the way to the ground and they will come back even lusher the next year. I also love to take some branches with buds BEFORE they flower and put them in water in my house, they will bloom inside and last a few weeks. Feel free to try even out the “lean” once they are done blooming. You could shape one, thin out another, and cut another all the way to the ground to see the differences in how they respond next year and Iearn a lot about pruning in general.
fern-grower
After flowering cut it back hard. As a standard or down to the ground.
NocteVolamus
Forsythias have a stunning natural shape. Why do people mangle prune them into shapes? I’d say refresh prune as per the others’ advice, then let them go, be free, natural, beautiful! Mow under them though because they’ll root from a branch touching the ground if left undisturbed.
lonelyinbama
As the other person said, when it’s done flowering you can basically chop the shit out of it and it’ll be fine. Shape it however you want literally as low as you want. Really really really hard to kill.
cuddleduds2
They look best when allowed to take on a “ fountain” shape. Let the stems grow long instead of pruning them off short. If you need to prune, cut any crossing stems and the bigger thicker stems to the ground, not taking more than a third.
wildcampion
You can start from scratch, just cut them down to the ground, and pick a new shape as they grow.
cowsruleusall
We have a huge number of previously-unmaintained forsythia and I’ve been doing a slow renovation pruning over the past 3 years. Honestly, they can take a LOT of abuse, and you can even completely cut them down at the base and they’ll regenerate just fine.
For your plants, the structural framework kinda sucks right now, and the base is very congested. First things first, remove all the detritus from around the base so you can see clearly, then remove all dead branches at the very base with a lopper.
Then, this year, after the flowers start to drop but before leaves start to appear, remove 25-50% of the branches at the base. You’ll want to deliberately take out the thickest, oldest stuff, making sure to space things out as best you can. Leave the younger healthier-looking branches. This will decongest things, make it easier for you to see what you’re doing in future years, and generally allow the plant to start regenerating. Fertilize with a general fertilizer, 10-10-10.
You’ll see a shitton of adventitial buds forming and you’ll get plenty of new green branches that you can then use for scaffold generation. In the next 1-2 years, you’ll remove the remainder of the old thick wood.
Odd_Reputation_4000
We have them down one side of our yard that are around 8ft tall now. I cut them back brutally at the end of the summer to keep them tidy and prevent them from coming too far out in the yard. I don’t top them, i just cut the side that faces our yard back about 3 ft. Do it every year and by the end of the summer next year you can’t tell I did anything.
disdkatster
I would do a hard prune once they are done flowering. Cut back before they leaf out to anywhere from 3-12″ off the ground. This shrub is extremely hardy and will send out new growth readily.
Edit: On further reading I see you have more detailed instructions on the pruning which tells you all you need to know. I don’t care for the plant because I don’t like the color for some reason but they can be pretty if left to a weeping shape rather than what you have there. The good thing about them other than their being such an early sign of spring is that you can cut them back hard without much fear of killing them.
Sudden_Idea9384
Just leave it and a nice shape
Will appear over the year
johnnybonchance
The “lean” is more than likely just them following the sun. You can try to shape it out of them, but they’ll probably just end up the same way after some time.
GenericAnemone
The sellers ruined them. Forsythias have a natural fountain like shape. Thats why it leans. Youll have to prune it 2 or 3 times a season to keep it like that or you can just let it go natural. Very hardy plants though
Btw, these are extremely easy to propagate. Just take your prunings and stick em in dirt. My mom turned one bush into an entire hedgerow out front and surrounded the deck out back. (If you don’t actively prune them they’ll propagate by leaning over and re-rooting)
Fineyoungcanniballs
I personally hate forsythia so if it were me I’d just get rid of it
AlmostSentientSarah
They will probably fill back out quickly. They’re tenacious growers and very prone to spreading. But depending on where you live, they might also be invasive which generally means they cause some harm or at least aren’t doing any good. Yet when you look around, you’ll see them everywhere.
If you’d like to replace them with something that benefits your wildlife and pollinators and still also looks great, you can try something like spicebush, if native to you. It’s a host plant for spicebush swallowtail butterflies and it turns a nice yellow in fall (sort of forsythia- looking). You can flavor wintertime cookies with the berries. And Virginia witch hazel, if native to you, is a host plant for a *ton* of butterflies and moths and has nice yellow flowers in late fall/early winter. It was sort of the forsythia before forsythia was brought to America in terms of blooming so early, though again, I understand you may actually live where forsythia is native, so please disregard this if so.
stephy1771
Cut to ground, dig out stump, replace with natives like spicebush or witch hazel or whatever is appropriate locally for you.
TheRumpleForesk1n
Super hardy. I have a couple in my yard. The electric company straight up ran one over so I had to cut it all the way down so it was only about 2 ft tall. Shaped it how I would like it when it grew big. 2 years later it’s almost back to 5 ft again
18 Comments
Forsythias are pretty forgiving and respond well to pruning. If some have a lean or uneven growth, you can cut back older, woody stems to the ground to encourage new upright shoots in spring. Try to keep the center open so air and light reach all parts of the bush. For shaping, prune right after they finish flowering so you don’t cut off next year’s blooms. You can also gently tie or support any leaning branches temporarily while they strengthen, but most will naturally straighten as new growth comes in.
Forsythia are extremely hardy! They are invasive where I live (eastern US), so I technically should get rid of the couple shrubs in my yard, but I’ve been keeping them to practice my pruning because you really cannot mess them up. You prune them after they flower and they have turned all green. They really are great to experiment with because you can cut them here, there, or all the way to the ground and they will come back even lusher the next year. I also love to take some branches with buds BEFORE they flower and put them in water in my house, they will bloom inside and last a few weeks. Feel free to try even out the “lean” once they are done blooming. You could shape one, thin out another, and cut another all the way to the ground to see the differences in how they respond next year and Iearn a lot about pruning in general.
After flowering cut it back hard. As a standard or down to the ground.
Forsythias have a stunning natural shape. Why do people mangle prune them into shapes? I’d say refresh prune as per the others’ advice, then let them go, be free, natural, beautiful! Mow under them though because they’ll root from a branch touching the ground if left undisturbed.
As the other person said, when it’s done flowering you can basically chop the shit out of it and it’ll be fine. Shape it however you want literally as low as you want. Really really really hard to kill.
They look best when allowed to take on a “ fountain” shape. Let the stems grow long instead of pruning them off short. If you need to prune, cut any crossing stems and the bigger thicker stems to the ground, not taking more than a third.
You can start from scratch, just cut them down to the ground, and pick a new shape as they grow.
We have a huge number of previously-unmaintained forsythia and I’ve been doing a slow renovation pruning over the past 3 years. Honestly, they can take a LOT of abuse, and you can even completely cut them down at the base and they’ll regenerate just fine.
For your plants, the structural framework kinda sucks right now, and the base is very congested. First things first, remove all the detritus from around the base so you can see clearly, then remove all dead branches at the very base with a lopper.
Then, this year, after the flowers start to drop but before leaves start to appear, remove 25-50% of the branches at the base. You’ll want to deliberately take out the thickest, oldest stuff, making sure to space things out as best you can. Leave the younger healthier-looking branches. This will decongest things, make it easier for you to see what you’re doing in future years, and generally allow the plant to start regenerating. Fertilize with a general fertilizer, 10-10-10.
You’ll see a shitton of adventitial buds forming and you’ll get plenty of new green branches that you can then use for scaffold generation. In the next 1-2 years, you’ll remove the remainder of the old thick wood.
We have them down one side of our yard that are around 8ft tall now. I cut them back brutally at the end of the summer to keep them tidy and prevent them from coming too far out in the yard. I don’t top them, i just cut the side that faces our yard back about 3 ft. Do it every year and by the end of the summer next year you can’t tell I did anything.
I would do a hard prune once they are done flowering. Cut back before they leaf out to anywhere from 3-12″ off the ground. This shrub is extremely hardy and will send out new growth readily.
Edit: On further reading I see you have more detailed instructions on the pruning which tells you all you need to know. I don’t care for the plant because I don’t like the color for some reason but they can be pretty if left to a weeping shape rather than what you have there. The good thing about them other than their being such an early sign of spring is that you can cut them back hard without much fear of killing them.
Just leave it and a nice shape
Will appear over the year
The “lean” is more than likely just them following the sun. You can try to shape it out of them, but they’ll probably just end up the same way after some time.
The sellers ruined them. Forsythias have a natural fountain like shape. Thats why it leans. Youll have to prune it 2 or 3 times a season to keep it like that or you can just let it go natural. Very hardy plants though
https://preview.redd.it/krv8nty650tg1.png?width=338&format=png&auto=webp&s=5fd7ddf7b4bfb274458bf339a0ec96db22525455
Btw, these are extremely easy to propagate. Just take your prunings and stick em in dirt. My mom turned one bush into an entire hedgerow out front and surrounded the deck out back. (If you don’t actively prune them they’ll propagate by leaning over and re-rooting)
I personally hate forsythia so if it were me I’d just get rid of it
They will probably fill back out quickly. They’re tenacious growers and very prone to spreading. But depending on where you live, they might also be invasive which generally means they cause some harm or at least aren’t doing any good. Yet when you look around, you’ll see them everywhere.
If you’d like to replace them with something that benefits your wildlife and pollinators and still also looks great, you can try something like spicebush, if native to you. It’s a host plant for spicebush swallowtail butterflies and it turns a nice yellow in fall (sort of forsythia- looking). You can flavor wintertime cookies with the berries. And Virginia witch hazel, if native to you, is a host plant for a *ton* of butterflies and moths and has nice yellow flowers in late fall/early winter. It was sort of the forsythia before forsythia was brought to America in terms of blooming so early, though again, I understand you may actually live where forsythia is native, so please disregard this if so.
Cut to ground, dig out stump, replace with natives like spicebush or witch hazel or whatever is appropriate locally for you.
Super hardy. I have a couple in my yard. The electric company straight up ran one over so I had to cut it all the way down so it was only about 2 ft tall. Shaped it how I would like it when it grew big. 2 years later it’s almost back to 5 ft again