Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Entire forsythia cut down

andnilsen76_G4yEz_andnilsen76_G4yEz_ Posts: 3
in Plants
Help! My neighbour cut down his entire forsythia bush. All the way to the ground, and without asking. Fantastically pointless if you ask me, since it gave me a lot of privacy. 
Will it grow back? 
«1

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2021
    Yes … ours regrew when the chap taking out the conifers chopped it down by mistake. It took a few years to get Yo a decent size again. 

    However, if it’s your neighbour’s forsythia he can cut it down if that's his choice … surely he doesn’t have to ask anyone … if you want one you’ll have to plant it in your garden 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • andnilsen76_G4yEz_andnilsen76_G4yEz_ Posts: 3
    Thanks for the quick answer! Yes, I know it’s his, but it just seemed so pointless. My post was partly written in semi-anger ;-) 
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    I think you'll be surprised at how quickly it regrows, but l think l'm right in saying that there might not be many flowers next Spring. They can get out of control if not cut back each year (although not as drastically).
     Our neighbour's one must be 7 feet high, his hedge cutting people never cut it back hard enough and it has very few flowers that are mostly at the top.
    I hope your blood pressure is lower now :) 
  • mandyroberts99mandyroberts99 Posts: 235
    MY OH absolutely culled mine and it grew back better. I now supervise him when he helps me....
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2021
    😂 … I s’pose it’s better ranting to us than shouting at him 😉 

    If they’ve been badly pruned in the past, resulting in a bright yellow big brush, cutting hard back and starting again is a way of achieving a much more pleasing light and airy shrub … forsythia can be a very attractive shaped shrub if not trimmed ‘hedge- style’ with shears. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    edited July 2021
    I had one which was about 8ft x 8ft. I cut mine down to soil level and it tried to regrow.
    I put a compost bag over the stump and compost to block out light. I think it's given up now.
    Devon.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Hacking back a forsythia every few years is the best way to retain and encourage vigour and better flowering the following year.

    As has been said, it's not your shrub and not your business.  If you want privacy you need to find a suitable shrub/fence/trellis screen for your own garden.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • andnilsen76_G4yEz_andnilsen76_G4yEz_ Posts: 3
    Thanks for the quick answers! The reason I got a bit irritated was because the neighbour has just moved in, and has cleared off everything that functioned as a screen between our garden and other neighbours. In my opinion you ask or at least give a notice before you remove hedges/bushes that are placed 50/50 on both properties. 
  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,360
    I cut 1/3 - 1/2 of the stems to the base every year, straight after flowering. You'd never know now, just a few weeks later. 
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2021
    LG_ said:
    I cut 1/3 - 1/2 of the stems to the base every year, straight after flowering. You'd never know now, just a few weeks later. 
    That's the way to do it!!!  :D

    Not clipping it all over with the shears or electric hedging clippers  :o

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





Sign In or Register to comment.