Forsythia intermedia Spectabilis is the most widely grown variety of Forsythia. It makes a wonderful early spring specimen shrub as it is covered in the most gorgeous golden yellow blossom in March and April, lighting up gardens wherever it is grown. It can grow to 4 metres in ideal conditions. For other spring choices, have a look at our full range of hedging.
We only deliver Forsythia barerooted, so delivery is during the planting months of November - April. The sizes are in centimetres above the ground (the roots don't count).
Its beauty is unfussy, and it will grow in most soils and in any location providing it gets sun.
Spacing Forsythia:
As a specimen plant, it likes a bit of room to let it get to full size so allow about a 2m width, although with pruning you can get away with a bit less.
As a flowering hedge, you would plant at 2-3 plants per metre, 33-50cm apart.
If you have the room, grow it in a mixed border or shrubbery and if you are worried that it might look a bit plain after it's flowered, try using it as a host for a smaller clematis which can ramble through its branches and flower, depending on variety, from May onwards.
Underplant the base with snowdrops and you have a 6-8 month show. Fabulous.
Forsythia x intermedia is a hybrid of F. suspensa and F. viridissima. This particular cultivar was discovered in 1906.