A beauty at my sister-in-law Rachel's houseTeasing and changing it's mind as it may, spring is never official until you see the cheery yellow blooms of Forsythia. Most of the year they are inconspicuous leafy green shrubs, but in early April the glory is all theirs!
Forsythia was discovered in China by a famous 18th century plant hunter, Robert Fortune. It was brought to Britain and named after William Forsyth, one of the founders of the Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain.
It is the bravest shrub of them all, flowering before any other trees and shrubs. This strength is also exhibited in its vigorous growth and ability to propagate itself by dropping branches to the ground and rooting them. Lovely and brave as it may be, gardeners need be sure it is granted plenty of space as it has a tendency to dominate! (In fact in some places it is known as an invasive species.)
For me forsythia is a sign of hope that warm weather is really on its way!
We had one in our back yard when I was a kid. "The Easter Bunny" used to hid all the yellow eggs in it. :) It was really quite effective.
ReplyDeleteI'm sad that the only one I have left is in the shade of a big pine tree. It just never shows off the way it could if it was in full sun.
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