What's Hot Now: Forsythia

For me, forsythia is the harbinger of spring.  (That and odoriferous ants.)  Forsythia's blooms explode on the scene in March, just as the chill of winter begins to ebb.  The bright yellow blooms appear before the leaves making it especially beautiful.  These small trees/large shrubs have multi-branch trunks that often arch gracefully.  What is often surprising to me is how huge these shrubs get.  Some forsythias can get to a width of 12'.  That's just one plant!  And it's a critical example of how it is important to consider mature size when placing plants.

We have a beautiful forsythia at the southeast corner of our home, where it gets maximum sun on our lot.  The problem is that the shrub is squeezed between the house and the fence line.  A space that is only eight feet wide and is one of the pathways that leads to the gate separating the front and back.  For the first couple of years, I tried desperately to prune it to push its height higher, so that the arching branches would arch well over our heads.  It didn't work.  So eventually, the tree/shrub will have to be removed.  Until I muster that courage, my husband gets angry at the forsythia every summer and "prunes" it, which means there are lots of random cuts made.  *Sigh*

Be kind to yourself and your plants.  Place them in spaces where they are happy and will be able to live out their lives.

Each is 10' wide and have been pruned.

The photos to the left and right are examples of how to use this shrub to maximum effect and of judicious pruning.  This is a slope where the forsythia has been allowed to arch down to the ground on one side, the downslope, making the forsythia seem huge and dramatic.  The upslope has been pruned to make the shrub appear tidy, without the low, arching branches.  It is very aesthetically pleasing.  Kudos to the homeowner who planted and cares for these shrubs.

What's Hot Now: Emerald 'n Gold Wintercreeper or Euonymus

What do all of these plants have in common?

Hmm, well, they are all the same kind of plant!  Emerald 'n Gold Wintercreeper is named Euonymus fortunei, appropriately.  It's a surprising plant that doesn't realize that most plants like tidy labels, such as "groundcover," "climber," or "shrub."  It's all of these things, as well as evergreen and as you can see, it takes on various colors in the winter, depending on how much sun and cold exposure it has.  Ideally, it would be grown in full sun, but mine is in mostly shade and in a protected pocket.  So my Euonymus takes on very little pink coloration normally.  In the photo, the ones in the middle apparently just came in from the nursery greenhouse, and so haven't been exposed to the cold, while the ones on either side have, and therefore, have taken on those great colors.

And while Euonymus normally functions as a ground cover or low growing, spreading shrub, it will climb, given proper support.  As an added bonus, wherever the stems touch the ground, it will root and spread.  In fact, I did some "experimental propagation" last summer and literally hacked a couple of runners off of my main Euonymus, planted them elsewhere in beds and voila!  I have little Emerald 'n Golds springing up along a once bare bed.

There are other kinds of Euonymus, some that function as ground covers and others that are truly shrubs.  But I selected this for "What's Hot" because of its sun flexibility, evergreen presence, and color variety.  Check the species and variety before picking up that Euonymus at the nursery.  Also keep in mind that the plants in the photo are young and small.  My Euonymus is at least five years old and is about 6' by 6', so keep that in mind when purchasing and planting.