Border Forsythia
Forsythia x intermedia
One of the first shrubs to bloom, smothering its arching stems in bright yellow before the leaves in early spring. It's forgiving of poor soil, pollution, salt and drought, and makes a fine hedge or bank cover. Prune right after flowering, and choose a cultivar hardy for your zone so cold won't kill the buds.
- Mature size
- 9 × 11 ft
- 2.7 × 3.5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–8b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Medium to moist
- Blooms
- Mar–Apr
Border Forsythia at its mature size
A mature Border Forsythia grows 8 to 10 feet tall and 10 to 12 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension.
Through the year
What Border Forsythia looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Feb
Bare arching tan-brown stems.
In flower · Mar–Apr
Leafless arching stems covered in bright yellow bell flowers.
In leaf · May–Oct
Arching stems with medium to dark green lance leaves.
Fall · Nov
Still mostly green, some leaves muted yellow-green, a slight purplish cast on a few, holding late; not purple overall.
Photos
Growing Border Forsythia
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, the Plains and Mountain West, and the Pacific Northwest.
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Good for
- Hedge, slopes, and fast growing
- Leaves
- Drops its leaves in winter
- Native to
- Garden hybrid
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Border Forsythia, that’s about 11 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Border Forsythia in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other forsythias
Gold Tide Forsythia
Show Off Starlet Forsythia
Show Off Forsythia
Border ForsythiaAll drawn to the same scale.