Disappointing Forsythia Blooms?

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie here. (Well, I've been to the Search pages a zillion times, but I'm a new subscriber.)

I'm in SW Pennsylvania, just moved to a 'new' home last October. We've got tons of forsythia bushes/hedges around the place, and I was SO looking forward to massive bursts of yellow flowers.

But...they're blooming very sparsely, compared to most other forsythias in the area. I know that the 'hedge' along the front may have been pruned to shape after the blooms had set late last summer, but there's a pretty large bank of them out back that doesn't look as if it was touched in a while. They get plenty of sun now, but maybe they're shaded too much during the summer?

I know any pruning should be done right after the blooms are done. Would feeding help?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Cheryl

I'm back, posting some pics of the sparse forsythia, as well as bumping the post...no comments so far, sniff-sniff!

I'm thinking they need some tough love...heavy pruning after the few flowers are done. I *did* get some nice forced blooms that lasted a good week & a half.

Another photo: this one is growing more "naturally." I think the ones in that last pic above were kept trimmed as a hedge, and may have had the flowers cut off last summer.
But I see "shaped" forsythia around here that's still blooming much more profusely than mine.
Feed 'em? Prune 'em? Both?

I'd be merciless on these resilient beasts.

Cut them to within a foot of the ground. Broadcast a general fertilizer (10-10-10 or a simple low dose nitrogen formulation) around the area they occupy; mulch; and water when it's excessively dry. You should be rewarded with about six feet of new growth (which you can lightly prune for balance; no shearing allowed) which should provide your ample flowering display in the future. If not, then you have an amazingly lousy selection of forsythia and I'd look to eradicate them in favor of a better clone or entirely different plant.

This technique is regularly used by large landscape managers at fine arboreta and botanical gardens in the eastern US to rejuvenate mass plantings of this shrub, and others in its behavior range.

John, Give us other examples "in its behavior range". What other flowering shrubs can benefit from this "start over" technique? Ken

Thanks so much for the instructions, V.V. I'll do exactly that in the coming weeks.
Also interested in your answer to kandlmidd's question. (I'd bet that spirea is one of the "others".)

I'd rank every rank-growing shrub in with the forsythia. The larger spireas, certainly, and then I'd add:

Buddleia spp.
Callicarpa spp.
Chaenomeles spp.
Cornus spp.
Lonicera spp.
Kolkwitzia
Philadelphus
Physocarpus
Pyracantha spp.
Symphoricarpos
Weigela florida
Viburnum (various varieties)

In some (many) of these cases, you will either lose flowers, fruit, or both for the season following the work. Once the new stems grow back in, the plant will resume its seasonal cycles. For those unaware, this is precisely how nurserymen produce those dense little plants we all buy in containers or B&B. They don't just spring from seed into those shapes.

Remember: I'm suggesting this technique only for those with these plants that grow vigorously for them. If you have one of these species, and it just limps along, DON'T DO IT. If you have a dwarf or diminutive form of one of these, DON'T DO IT. If you've never handled a pruners, saw, or have never radically rejuvenated a shrub before, PRACTICE with someone who has (or on an invasive exotic or other plant that you want to be rid of) before taking on your plant.

In Cheryl's case, I'm confident of her outcome. I want readers to be certain that I'm NOT suggesting this technique in every circumstance with every species or in every garden and zone. How's that for a horticultural disclaimer?

Oh great, you put the disclaimer at the end! After reading the list, I chopped my Cornus controversa 'Variegata', 'June Snow', and 'Janine' to the ground. Just great.

Well, it's not going to kill them. You do have that.

Does that make you feel better? I hope so!

Kevelhead:

Good job. Wouldn't want to take the chance on those non-native dogwood species running wild and crowding out the viburnums. Your C. controversa DID have quite a bit of rank growth.

Anyone complaining that there weren't enough propagators to handle all your prunings, well, 'nuff said.