1 year, 5 months ago
via gardeningqna.com
What is Forsythia?
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M$1 Answer
Hello Kramer,
Forsythias are early spring flowering shrubs belonging to the olive family (Oleaceae). They are usually ornamental plants but in Chinese medicine fruits are used in preparing herbal medicines to treat fevers, headache, and excessive thirst and also used to detoxify the body.
There are about 11 species of Forsythias. The interesting characteristic of Forsythias is that the flowers appear before the leaves in early spring and persist for 10-14 days. The flowers are bright yellow in color with 4 petals joined at the base which give it a bell shape.
Forsythia is named after William Forsyth who was an 18th century Scottish horticulturist.
It is important to prune forsythia correctly so that you get plenty of good sized flowers. Wrong pruning will result in just plenty of foliage and no flowers! Following are the steps to correct pruning of Forsythia –
- Prune Forsythia soon after flowering in the early spring to get good flowers the following year.
- First, cut out all of the stems that have flowered, say from 12 inches to 2 feet depending on the variety of Forsythia you are pruning.
- To encourage basal stems to grow, cut one out of every three stems to within a few inches from the ground.
- If you are pruning a hedge, cut it twice each year, one in the early spring and the other in late July or August.
For more information on pruning check out this site:
http://www.gardenseeker.com/pruning/pruning_forsythia.htm
Happy pruning!
Forsythias are early spring flowering shrubs belonging to the olive family (Oleaceae). They are usually ornamental plants but in Chinese medicine fruits are used in preparing herbal medicines to treat fevers, headache, and excessive thirst and also used to detoxify the body.
There are about 11 species of Forsythias. The interesting characteristic of Forsythias is that the flowers appear before the leaves in early spring and persist for 10-14 days. The flowers are bright yellow in color with 4 petals joined at the base which give it a bell shape.
Forsythia is named after William Forsyth who was an 18th century Scottish horticulturist.
It is important to prune forsythia correctly so that you get plenty of good sized flowers. Wrong pruning will result in just plenty of foliage and no flowers! Following are the steps to correct pruning of Forsythia –
- Prune Forsythia soon after flowering in the early spring to get good flowers the following year.
- First, cut out all of the stems that have flowered, say from 12 inches to 2 feet depending on the variety of Forsythia you are pruning.
- To encourage basal stems to grow, cut one out of every three stems to within a few inches from the ground.
- If you are pruning a hedge, cut it twice each year, one in the early spring and the other in late July or August.
For more information on pruning check out this site:
http://www.gardenseeker.com/pruning/pruning_forsythia.htm
Happy pruning!
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
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