The forsythia is in bloom, exploding all over the place.
Why does no one ever prune it properly? The right way to prune any shrub of that type, where long canes come up straight from the ground in clumps (think lilacs), is at ground level. Start at the bottom and you can prune away up to 1/3 of the shrub a year. Normally you would prune less than that, but if it's heavily overgrown you can hack off quite a bit.
If you butcher it by just cutting it back from the top (hedge clippers, anyone?) you'll end up with a boxy shrub that's more stick than wood, and with very few blooms. If you want those long, arching cascades of blossoms in the spring, prune from the bottom.
The park district is reseeding the Midway. I want to tell them that if they really want to keep the grass in good shape, they'll reseed twice a year instead of once, and more importantly they'll stop mowing it when it's soaking wet. Every summer I see them do it, send the mowing tractors out after heavy storms. All they leave behind are giant ruts and bent grass.
I have no idea how to trim the forsythia I inherited form the prior owners of my house so I used to just let them grow. They were lovely. Two years ago my mom came over to visit and hacked them from the top, middle, bottom, inside, outside... all sides. They have yet to recover. Now they have a few tall cascading shoots, and the rest looks sparse and stubby and sad.
Advice?
Posted by: Butterflyfish | April 24, 2008 at 10:42 AM