Forsythia – Forsythia X intermedia

Common Name: Forsythia

Botanical Name: Forsythia X intermedia, for-SITH-ee-a in-ter-MEED-ee-a

Decorative Life: 5-7 days.

Flower Color: Yellow

Availability: Spring, Winter

• Member of the Oleaceae (olive) family.
• Native to China and Eastern Europe.
• Close relatives include ash, jasmine, osmanthus, lilac and olive.

• Small delicate flowers with strap-shaped petals occur along woody branches.
• Stems are cut to various lengths in winter to early spring, before flowers begin to open.
• Plant is a deciduous shrub, classed as a dicotyledon, leaves not parallel veined.
• Very slight flower fragrance.

As flowers that are open, in the mid 30s F is a good educated guess since storage data has not been located in the literature. However, it has been shown that stems containing non opened flowers can be stored at just below freezing wrapped in plastic from February till September during which samples can be removed and forced into flower using normal flower food solutions.

• Named after William Forsyth (1737-1804), a Scottish gardener who became superintendent of the Royal Garden of Kensington Palace.
• The specific epithet name “intermedia” means of intermediate size. The “X” signifies that this is a cross between at least two different species.
• Flowers appear before the leaves.
• Cut dormant branches can be forced into bloom by immersing them in 82 F water for 12 hours, then placing them upright in opening solution at 59-64 F and high humidity for 1-3 weeks.