Forsythia

On Saturday I transplanted a Forsythia "baby" from our main bush near our back steps to a position that will screen my composting area from my neighbor's view. Forsythia is incredibly easy to propagate - in fact, it's difficult to avoid propagating. This member of the olive family grows long, whiplike branches each year, covered with long, sawtoothed leaves. There's a temptation to cut all of these branches off each year, but there are two reasons not to do this. The bright yellow blossoms that herald the earliest days of Spring grow on the previous year's growth, so cutting all of them off in the Fall will result in a poor showing the following Spring. The other reason is that wherever a branch touches the ground, it will take root and begin to send up shoots of its own.

This second point is also the reason why you should keep a careful eye on your Forsythia. An unpruned bush will soon begin to spread through branches taking root, and in time a single Forsythia may become an entire stand of Forsythia. I would see this sometimes during my commute to work, as long stretches of lemon-yellow blossoms betrayed the presence of Forsythia thickets stretching along the highway. But at more than $12 apiece for new Forsythia plants from a Nursery, it's worth letting a few branches take root so you can make your own.

As with all things in gardening, a lot of patience and a little care are required. I allowed these rooted branches to stay unmolested for about two years, to allow them to develop healthy root systems and reduce their dependence on the parent plant. About a week before transplanting, I found the branches that still connected the babies to their parents and I cut them, forcing the offspring plants to rely entirely on their own ability to gather resources. Finally, I pruned them before transplanting. Well, my mom did the pruning while she was doing some general pruning in the back yard, but this was really something I should have thought of. While this reduced the total leaf area for photosynthesis, it also reduced the amount of leaves and branches that would need to be supplied with water through the roots, and also cut the water loss through transpiration through the leaves. At the plant's new home I dug a hole slightly larger than the root ball, to allow some room for the roots to expand comfortably. I then filled it back in partially with dirt taken from the hole, positioned my new Forsythia so the roots would be at the same level they were in its original location, and then refilled the hole with the rest of the dirt. I then topped this all off with a thick layer of mulch - finished compost taken from deep within the base of the nearby compost pile. As a "welcome to the neighborhood" gift, I gave the new plant a good soaking using a water wand attachment on my garden hose.

I did all this on Saturday. The Forsythia is showing no signs of transplant shock or any other sort of distress. Today I'm planning on transplanting two more Forsythia babies to my new house, where they will provide some good line-of-sight screening in my back yard. With the right amount of care and luck, in a year or two I will have three big, healthy Forsythia bushes that cost me nothing but a little time and effort!

More information:
Forsythia entry from Wikipedia
Forsythia entry from About.com
The Garden Helper page on "Golden Bells" (Forsythia)
The Gardener's Network: How to Grow and Care for Forsythia Bushes