I love forsythia! It’s always the cheery harbinger of warm days, and it’s one of those shrubs that in my mind is best left to look wild. It should be allowed to send its long branches out, covered with beautiful blooms, sometimes arching under the weight of those awesome blossoms. The example above is in our California garden.

And here’s what it should NOT look like. This is in front of a suburban home in Draper, Utah. I imagine they have a professional landscaping company do their maintenance, as there were a number of these trimmed just like this along their fence line. This gorgeous shrub isn’t meant to be contained in some tidy little old-lady-haircut-style package. In fact, I think most shrubs should be allowed to grow into their natural shape, although I do make exceptions for very nicely done hedges.

Here’s how forsythia should be maintained: This is one of those shrubs that only flowers on new wood, whether that’s new long branches or little side branches off the previous year’s long branches. To keep the new wood coming, every year, about a third of the older branches should be removed in the late spring, after the flowering has finished. Don’t wait too long, because you want to give it plenty of growing season to push out the new branches, which will flower the next spring. If you’ve let it grow long branches from its base, you can cut the trimmed branches all the way to the ground. If not, just cut out some of the older, more woody branches as low as you can without damaging the shape of the shrub, and when it looks like you’ve removed about one-third of the wood, you’re good. That will prompt the shrub to grow a healthy number of new shoots over the summer and fall. Just remember: new shoots=blossoms next spring.