FORSYTHIAS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 236, 5 October 1935, Page 6 (Supplement)

FORSYTHIAS.

PRUNE AFTER FLOWERING. Discovered in China during the last century by the celebrated horticultural explorer Robert Fortune, it was named after George lll.'s head gardener, William Forsyth, who, incidentally, was a pioneer of tree surgery. Forsythias are often grown against a wall, where they undoubtedly look most attractive when blooming well. Thus grown they require plenty of space for full development, as well as a good deal of attention in regard to training and pruning. The plants, however, being perfectly hardy and self-supporting, can be grown to much better advantage as bushed in the open. Given a sunny spot, they will bloom just as freely, are much more decorative, graceful and effective, and are more easily pruned. Only by correct pruning can the maximum show of blossom be obtained. Fortunately quite simple, this should be carried out immediately the flowers are over, so as to give the new shoots, which provide the bulk of the blossom next year, as long as possible in which to grow and mature. All that has to be done is to cut back the shoots which have flowered, reducing them to within a few inches of the old wood, afterwards thinning out the weakest branches where at all crowded. The latter operation, however, can be carried out a little before the shrubs come into bloom, the primings being taken into the house and put in water, when the flower buds will soon open. In fact, in a warm room it is possible to bring into flower branches cut as early as July, but the blossom, naturally, is not so fine as that obtained from sprays nearer the proper time of flowering. There are two distinct types of Forsythia, that with arching branches and pendulous habit, as is seen in Forsythia suspensa, and the more erect-growing and rather larger flowered type, of which Forsythia spectabilis is one of the best examples. The former species is the more suitable for wall culture and the latter for planting in the open shrub border or on the lawn. As a contrast to Forsythias having the usual rich yellow blossom, there is Forsythia europaea (cream-coloured flowers) and Forsythia ovata, a Korean species which has primrose yellow blooms. All of these are very easily grown in any good garden soil, but a sunny position is best for flowering.