Planting forsythia is all about timing and spacing. The two best times are early spring and mid fall depending on your hardiness zone.

One of the earliest plants to bloom in spring is forsythia, but when should it be planted?

Forsythia bushes delight us each spring with their burst of cheery yellow flowers. This deciduous perennial bush has arching branches with flowers that come before the leaves appear.

The forsythia flower bursts into bloom well ahead of most early spring blooming plants. I get to enjoy it even before my daffodils show their sunny faces.

This shrub tells me, early each year, that spring has arrived. Let’s find out more about how to plant it.

Check out this article for more information on forsythia bushes. It talks about pruning, transplanting, forcing and other gardening tasks related to forsythia.

A forsythia shrub looks wonderful as a border plant (I have one that hides a chain link fence beautifully!) and can even be grown as a hedge.

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Forsythia is one of the first perennials to bloom in the spring, but when should it be planted? Get tips for planting, growing and pruning forsythia to take advantage of those cheery spring blooms. Share on X

Tips for Planting Forsythia Bushes

Most garden centers sell established forsythia plants. Lynwood Gold Forsythia is a very popular variety that many gardeners choose. It really lights up the spring with an abundance of yellow blooms.

The plant is great for adding privacy and for focal plants in a garden bed. It can reach tree size that is up to 8-10 feet tall, so needs room to grow.

Mature forsythia plants that have not been kept under control can take up a lot of room in the garden. Keep your gardening habits in mind when planting them.

If you discover years later that your forsythia is too large for its space, you can move it. See my tips for transplanting forsythia here.

When to plant Forsythia

Forsythia can be planted pretty much all year long, other than when there is a frost or freeze. Timing depends a lot on your planting zone.

If you live where the ground does not freeze, you can plant even during the winter months. Northern gardeners like to plant in early spring after the last frost in order to help the plant become established before a hard winter.

One big advantage of spring planting is that you will be able to see the color of the blooms if you purchase locally. My one suggestion is not to plant in the middle of the summer unless you want to spend a lot of time on the end of the hose, making sure that it gets enough moisture.

For most zones, early to mid fall (September or October) is the best time to plant forsythia. The weather is not too hot but the ground is still quite warm which encourages root development.

Spacing Forsythia Plants

Check your tag to see how tall and wide the plant will be when it is mature. One of the mistakes that many beginners make is to plant shrubs too closely together.

They will end up crowding each other and won’t grow well. If the bush grows near a fence line, be sure to plant it in some from the edge so it will grow on the back side, too.

Forsythia has a pretty arching habit and needs plenty of room for those branches to spread out. Be sure to space your plants to accommodate the size of the mature plant, particularly if you plan to grow them along a side of your garden as a border plant.

I have mine spaced about 8 feet apart and now after three years the branches fill in the spaces between each shrub.

Where to Plant Forsythia – Soil Needs

Choose a location in your garden that gets full sunlight and has good soil that drains well. If you have a soil testing kit, check your soil.

Forsythia likes a soil pH with a range between 6.8 and 7.7. Many local departments of agriculture will test your soil very inexpensively if you get in touch with them.

If your soil is not in the suitable range, sublimed sulfur will help to lower the PH and powdered limestone will help to raise it.

As with all perennials, I like to add in 2 to 3 inches of organic matter or compost into the planting area to a depth of about 10 inches especially if the soil is sandy.

Be sure that the spot that you choose gives plenty of room for forsythia bushes to spread, especially if you want to take full advantage of its arching habit.

If you are aiming for a forsythia hedge, you can space the plants closer together.

What to plant with forsythia

With most perennials, this question is easy to answer, since perennials are often used as focal plants. But the size of forsythia makes this more of a problem.

Don’t use forsythia as a focal plant. The shrub will grow to a great size quickly and will outshine and crowd out anything planted near it. Instead, think of contrasting colors when choosing other plants.

Redbud trees and cherry trees make great companions because they give a strong color contrast. Flowering quince, and daffodils are also good choices, sine they flower in early spring as well, giving a good show of early color.

Planting forsythia shrubs grown in containers

Dig a hole that is at least two times as wide as the root ball of your plant and the same depth as the root area. Remove the plant from the container and set the root ball into the hole. Make sure that it will sit at the same level with the ground.

Fill in the space around the plant with more good quality soil and tamp it down firmly around the roots of the plant. Water the plant well.

Transplanted shrubs can suffer a bit when moved from a pot to the garden and watering the area well gives it a better chance of withstanding the move with ease.

After watering, the soil level many look lower near the crown on the plant. Just add a bit more soil It is best to hold off on adding commercial fertilizer until the plant has become established.

Planting bare root forsythia

If you order online, you will often get bare root plants which will be shipped according to your hardiness zone. These plants are available from many mail order nurseries.

They are generally less expensive than potted plants, but are also smaller as well. Forsythia is a fast grower, so a bare rooted plant may be perfect for you!

Bare root plants are shipped in a bag with a planting medium – normally sphagnum moss or shredded cedar. This is placed around the root system to keep it moist.

Dormant plants will not have leaves. But actively growing plants may have some leaves showing.

Prepare the soil in your garden by adding some organic matter and be sure to plant very quickly once the specimen arrives. The shipping medium should be added to the planting hole along with the bare root plant.

Try to plant it at the same depth as the original plant was planted. (Check the trunk of the plant. You should see a tree ring which shows that level.)

If you get a cold snap or you don’t have time to plant the bare root specimens in the garden right away, just be sure to get them into soil in pots as soon as they arrive. They will only last a short while in the shipping medium.

Water the plant regularly for the entire first year. You will get the best results if you choose a bare root plant from a nursery in your own hardiness zone. Not only may it arrive more quickly, but it will have been grown according to local conditions.

What do forsythia look like in winter?

If you are hoping for that lovely yellow color all year long, you will be sorely disappointed. Forsythia has the blast of spring color and then turns into a lush green plant until the cold weather hits.

Once the plants have gone through a frost, they will lose all of the leaves and flowers and show only the long arching canes in the winter months.

To enjoy the color during the winter months, try forcing the branches indoors even when there is snow on the ground. (See my tips for forcing forsythia here.)

Propagating Forsythia Shrubs

While buying plants from the garden centers is the quickest way to get a new plant, it is also the most expensive.

Forsythia branches root easily and will give you new plants to use in other parts of your garden, if you are patient to wait for them to take root. And really, who doesn’t like plants for free?

Layering and taking cuttings are the two of the easiest and fastest ways to root a forsythia shrub. The process is simple enough that even a beginner with not much of a green thumb can have success with this easy to root plant.

Taking forsythia Cuttings

Cuttings are best taken in mid summer from this year’s growth. These branches will be more tender and will root more easily. Don’t use the old stems which can be hard and woody.

I use the cuttings from branches that have been “headed.” These will need to be removed to keep the arching shape anyway and the tips have tender growth that roots well.

To take a cutting, just remove the leaves from the bottom have and dip the bottom tip in a rooting powder. Place them in sand, a good seed starting soil and keep moist.

I like to root my cuttings in a soilless mixture of equal parts peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite. It drains well and encourages roots to develop.

You should have rooted cuttings in 6-8 weeks. Then you can move them to their own larger pots with normal potting soil until they are more established and are growing.

You can then plant them in your garden.

Layering Forsythia branches

For a forsythia, this is the easiest way to get a new plant. To layer a branch, just place a pot near an established forsythia plant. Choose a branch that will reach to the pot and bury the stem under a few inches of soil.

Stake the branch in place with alandscape pin and water.

The roots will establish quickly and you can then cut the stem that connects the two plants and plant the branch with roots. It will grow easily into a new shrub.

Transplanting Forsythia Bushes

Once forsythia branches have taken root, you can transplant them in another area of your garden to give more of this showy plant to enjoy.

It is best to move a forsythia bush in late fall or winter, when the bush is not actively growing, to reduce any chance of transplant shock.

Two seasons ago, I had one forsythia bush take root just from having an arching branch touch the ground near it. I staked the branch down for a while to let the roots develop. It was then easy to chop off from the main plant and dig up to transplant in another border.

It actually flowered a bit the last spring, and now just about 18 months later, I have a good sized shrub that is about 4 feet wide and 3 feet tall. It was mature enough this year to give me a nice show of flowers just a few weeks ago.

Trimming Forsythia

Knowing when to trim forsythia is important to make sure that you get those blooms every year. Established forsythia plants will need to be trimmed to keep their pretty arching shape and also to keep them a manageable size.

This is best done in the spring after flowering and when the plant is at least 1 year old since you will be removing whole branches. See my tips for pruning forsythia here.

Overgrown forsythia bushes can get so large that general pruning won’t do the job of managing them. In this case, it is time for either renovation pruning or hard pruning. See my tips for this process here.

Follow these tips for planting forsythia and you will be rewarded with the first sign of spring each year that beckons you out into your garden, with the cheery yellow flowers. It is one of America’s most popular perennial shrubs for a good reason.

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Admin note: This post for tips on when and how to plant forsythia first appeared on the blog in March of 2018. I have updated the post to add more tips, additional photos, a printable project card and a video for you to enjoy.

Yield: Forsythia gives great early spring blooms

Tips for Planting and Propagating Forsythia

Forsythia is an easy to manage shrub but there are a few things you will need to know for planting, transplanting and propagating this perennial.

Active Time 30 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Difficulty easy

Estimated Cost $15

Materials

Forsythia plants can be purchased in pots, as bare root plants or you can propagate it from a friends plant.

Tools

Print out these care tips

Instructions

WHEN TO PLANT

Anytime there is no frost or freeze.
Northern gardeners do best if the plant is planted in early spring.
Southern gardeners do better planting in mid fall.

SPACING

This plant needs room to grow. Space 8 feet apart or you will need to move as the size increases.

SUNLIGHT NEEDS

Plant where forsythia will get full sun for best flowers.

SOIL NEEDS

Forsythia needs well draining soil.

CONTAINER PLANTS

Dig a hold 2 x the size of the root ball and just as deep.
Add organic matter or compost

BARE ROOT PLANTS

Try to plant at level of original plant (check trunk for a soil line impression)
Add organic matter to the soil

PROPAGATING TIPS

Forsythia can be propagated by tip layering, and soft wood cuttings

WHEN TO TRANSPLANT

Transplant shrubs in the fall when the plant is starting to go dormant.

PRUNING TIPS

Best done in spring after flowering
Cut off 1/3 of the oldest and woodiest canes

Lizzie

Sunday 29th of August 2021

I planted a forsythia shrub about a foot tall back in March. It is now almost September and it seems hardy but has not grown one inch! I planted three trees and a blackberry bush at the same time and they are all flourishing. I thought maybe an animal was eating it but that does not appear to be the case. Help!

Carol Speake

Monday 30th of August 2021

It is hard to diagnose any plant problems without seeing them in person. My forsythias did not grow much the first year but took off on the second.

Maria M Dios

Saturday 24th of April 2021

Carol, could you let me know? By my email below. Do I plant my new forsythia shrub that I bought at a landscaper's market ....with or without the burlap it is wrapped in? It has no container. Thank you for your wonderful article! Maria

I haven't planted a burlap wrapped plant but my understanding is that you leave the burlap0 to hold the roots while you position the plant in the hole, then cut away as much of the burlap as you can before you add soil to the hole.

Pat lubon

Sunday 14th of March 2021

Can forsythia grow successfully in st. Lucia in the caribbean

Monday 15th of March 2021

That would be a question to ask a local landscaper or garden center. I'm not familiar with conditions for various plants around the world.

Brian of Nazareth

Friday 15th of May 2020

What is a bare toot plant? In fact, what in the blue hell is a bare toot?? Did you mean bare tooth?

Saturday 16th of May 2020

Unless I have a typo in my post, I referred to bare root plants, not bare toot. Bare root plants are plants that are not actively growing - normally perennial plants that are dug up and stored without any soil around their roots. Many nurseries online sell bare root plants and ship them when it is time to plant them in a garden.

Vanessa Rembert

Wednesday 1st of April 2020

Hi. I just planted 2, store-bought bushes that have about 10 branches coming off of them and a few flowers. They’re young bushes and the branches seem to be wild with a mind of their own. Should I tie them together or insert a post to encourage everything to take well? The long branches are sort of just laying on the ground.

It is the growth habit of the plants that they do that. In fact, where the tips hit the ground, they will root into a new plant if secured to the soil. I just let mine do what they will. The plant will eventually send up new suckers that will grow more upright.