Welcome to this weeks ‘In A Vase On Monday’ when I am linking up with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden to join in her challenge to find something from the garden to put in a vase in the house every Monday.
This weeks vase is a complete contrast to last weeks pretty pastel pink tulips! Forsythia is loudly announcing its presence in the garden and surrounding areas – shouting out that spring has arrived. Forsythia is one of those ‘love it or hate it’ shrubs that always gets a strong reaction when it is in flower.
I first came across its brash yellow blooms when we moved to Suffolk – I do not remember it flowering on the streets of London where I lived, or in any of my childhood gardens. My initial reaction to forsythia was not good – it was too brash, too gaudy, just too yellow for my new city orientated gardening tastes.
As time has passed my attitude to forsythia has mellowed and now I welcome its brief presence in my spring garden. This years early easter meant I was able to gather armfuls to make an easter display for the house. After last weeks proliferation of blue and white in the vases of other contributors, I was determined to use the combination for easter and found this lovely pot at the back of a cupboard. I used a narrow glass vase inside this blue and white pot to help the twigs stand upright.
Forsythia flowers on old wood, so do not make the mistake of hard pruning this shrub during the winter – you will be pruning away your precious flowers.
I have two large forsythia shrubs in the garden and every year around June time my gardener prunes all the new growth back to a permanent framework with a hedge trimmer, which keeps the shrubs at a constant size and maximises the old flowering wood. Sometimes in late autumn I will take off any additional stray summer growth with my secateurs – just to maintain the shape that I like.
If you need to control the size of this shrub, cut 1 in every three stems of the old wood to the ground in the winter. The remaining stems will flower in the spring and can be trimmed back in height later in the summer.
As I was taking the photos this evening (how lovely to have enough light at 6pm to take photographs inside!), I was reminded that I had shown you this pussy willow display back in February. The display is still looking good and worked well with the forsythia branches.
Whilst writing I thought I would show you a few of my easter decorations that were displayed on the easter tree this weekend. These are decorations that I have been collecting for many years and enjoy unpacking every year – each one has a memory attached to it.
The hand painted egg below was bought in Austria.
My daughters made a series of these flower fairies when they were little girls and they still look pretty hanging amongst the branches of the easter tree. I wrap them up with great care each year to ensure they do not get squashed.
I struggled to get a clear photo of the whole tree – perhaps I will try again in the morning.
I will be back on Wednesday with my Greenhouse Review for April – please do join in if you have a greenhouse – we all enjoy looking at what is growing in each others greenhouses!
Thank you to Cathy for hosting this lovely meme and I hope you will pop over to her blog to see what she and the others have made. I have had a quick peek myself and Cathy has a treat for you today!
Insert your profile info here, by going to Users -> Your Profile -> Biographical Info. Profile image (avatar) comes from gravatar.com. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam faucibus ornare lectus nec cursus.
I love the glass bird!
Funny, I have felt about the same way with forsythia. I did grow up with lots of it: my Mother adored it and we had several hedges with it. But it just does not work for me, in my gardens! Now, of course, I have limited space so can’t possibly have it, but I do enjoy seeing the color explosion along the roads and highways.
Forsythia certainly does draw mixed reactions Libby!! I think it is at its best growing slightly wild in a woodland setting – I have a large shrub that drapes over our front wall like this and I love watching it come into flower every year.
I had always been ambivalent about forsythia until a neighbor surrounded her yard with a large hedge on two sides that absolutely glowed in the late afternoon sun. I thought, “Now that’s the way to grow forsythia!” Until I had seen that forsythia always reminded me of scrambled eggs on a shrub. Not that that’s a bad thing…As always, your photography is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Mjarz – I would love to see that hedge!!
My garden has a mature forsythia that I look forward to seeing bloom each year, and I have planted daffodils under it that I hope will bloom at the same time for even more sunshine on earth. It has to be cut back hard each year or it will grow out of control, but I guess I have enough room for it even if I forget. There’s a whole hedge of them that I often drive by in spring that is an incredible sight in bloom, like Mjarz describes. I like the way your cheery branches look in the blue and white vase, and your pussy willow branches too, and all your decorations are lovely! -Beth
Thank you Beth – I have daffodils growing under mine too! I love the sound of that hedge – it reminds me of a large lilac hedge that grows near to here – such a wonderful sight in May.
I always watched for the neighbors’ forsythia bushes to bloom each spring while we lived in the Midwest – they are such a marvelous burst of colour after drab winter! It’s perfect combined with your blue and white vase (thanks for including the note about the narrow vase inside!). The eggs are lovely, and all the better with precious memories, I know… 🙂
Thank you Amy – today was the first day that was warm enough to take a coffee break outside – the forsythia has arrived with the spring!!
Beautiful decorations and vase….I also do not like too much forsythia in my garden and have one small shrub that flowers profusely. I was able to dig down in the snow and cut a couple of branches that are blooming in my vase.
Thank you Donna – I am amazed that the forsythia buds have survived under all that snow – you must be so pleased to have it blooming inside.
Your vase shows Forsythia at its best. It can be unremarkable for most of the year but it’s hard to not enjoy Forsythia in full bloom. Lucky you to have the little eggs and flower fairies for remembering special times.
Thank you Susie – you are certainly right about forsythia – it would be so easy to remove it as a tatty shrub for most of the year – but then when it shines in spring all is forgiven and I think about planting more to increase the effect!
I usually feel ambivalent about forsythia, but you have extracted strange magic from it with that glorious fountain in the blue and white vase. Both simple and elegant.
Thank you Joanna – I am pleased that I have made you think again about how you view this much maligned spring beauty.
I agree with you about Forsythia. Your vase looks lovely with it. I appreciate the early spring explosion of color and find it sad to see how many of them are pruned into such small unattractive shapes. It is beautiful this spring in the valleys of the mountains here in North Carolina.
Thank you Cindy – I agree that forsythia looks its best as a large bush – I love to see it growing wild in the lanes around our house. North Carolina sounds very beautiful!
I think you worked some magic with the blue vase. I don’t have Forsythia in my garden, but my neighbor does and so I enjoy hers. She also doesn’t mind my picking it , which is nice. I usually put them in an attractive basket on the porch though (with water of course) because they leave their golden petals all over the place within an hour it seems!
Thank you Susan – I have been surprised by how well the forsythia has behaved inside this year – I cut it on Saturday and it is still not dropping – unlike last year when it barely survived a day. Perhaps because I picked it just as the flowers opened this year.
I have grown to love Forsythia ever since my partner chopped ours back one spring just before it flowered (whoops) and I brought it all indoors by the armful where it opened within a couple of days and literally lit up the house! It looks lovely in your blue and white vase. Love the Easter decorations too – especially those precious flower fairies!
What a lovely way to make the most of that little disaster Cathy! I love those little flower fairies and have just ordered a new kit to keep in the ‘making’ cupboard – just in case we ever want to make some more. The kits have not been made for a few years now, but it is surprising what you can find on the internet these days.
When I had a small garden in the UK I felt forsythia was not interesting enough to be given some space but in a larger garden it is a wonderful cloud of sunny yellow and as Cathy mentioned it is good forced into flower by bringing indoors. Your flower fairies are gorgeous, what a precious memory to be able to bring out each year.
I think having the space to let the shrub grow is the key to its success – in a small garden I would resent giving it space for much of the year. Even if one day I have a small garden again, I will seek out a friend or neighbour with a bush large enough to cut from!
I love yellow! But nog in the garden and I really don’t like forsythia. Maybe it will grow on me though.
As I said this is a ‘love it or hate it’ shrub Pauline! I was certainly on your side of the fence a few years ago, but now love to mark the arrival of spring with the flowering of the forsythia.
I am of the same mind with forsythia but seeing it in vase it has gradually grown on me – I think for so long it was a ubiquitous and neglected shrub in suburban gardens but I am beginning to see how different it can be when it is maintained. It certainly looks great in this vase but yellow and blue will always be a winning combination for vases. Loved seeing your Easter decorations – I did toy with blowing some eggs this year but we are still chicken-less and Aldi had run out of free range eggs so that put paid to that idea! Thanks for your vase and lovely photos, as always
Thank you Cathy – next year I will try bringing it inside before it blooms for some early sunshine! Better luck next year with the eggs.
Not sure if it’s seasonal, but they were still short on the free range eggs today 😉
I love forsythia, its bright yellow colour suddenly gives life to a garden that is slowly slipping into spring. Great vase, Julie, by showing it off, you have given forsythia what it deserves! I will follow your example and arrange one these days. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Anca – I have never displayed it like that on its own before, but it has certainly risen to the occasion!
Oh sunshine in a vase Julie! This year I’m missing the forsythia just by our allotment gate which has sadly been hacked right down – there will no welcoming yellow glow for some time now.
That is so sad Anna – at least it is a very resilient shrub so should be flowering away for you next spring – you need to put a ‘do not prune’ sign on it though!
A blue and white vase is perfect with the bright yellow of forsythia. The Easter ornaments are also very pretty… love the painted eggs!
Lisa
Beautiful Julie! Strong colors show up better in our bright sunlight than pastels so we’re drawn to them here. I love yellow in virtually all its incarnations and I’d certainly grow Forsythia if I could but it isn’t suited to the climate in my area of Southern California. I also love pussywillow, another plant which, sadly, won’t grow here.
stunning images! Forsythia always heralds spring to me and I have been admiring it in other gardens as I don’t have room to grow it in mine. It looks so pretty in your blue and white vase (I use that trick of putting a thin vase inside another too).
Hi Julie, I love your display of forsythia, especially in your blue and white container! And thank you for the information of when to trim the shrub. You are so right that people either love it or hate it! I have been unsure whether to plant it or not, but this year I think I’ve finally found a place where it will look nice. Now I can’t wait to get one! 🙂 Dana