Looking for a great fast growing shrub? A Forsythia tree may be your answer. Living out here in the country a fence isn’t the most budget friendly way to define your yard. They are easy to care for and pruning is simple.
Trees and shrubs look more natural, but who wants to wait 10 years for these things to take off? Let me introduce you to the Forsythia tree. The best part is we found a bunch of these in our local Penny Saver last spring for FREE!
You can always find a deal on anything, if you are resourceful and patient.
What is a Forsythia Tree?
A flowering shrub, typically planted for its profusion of spring flowers. I really wanted these because living in upstate New York, the first flowers in Spring are life changing.
- Blooms in early spring, with a profusion of pale to deep yellow, bell-shaped flowers on the previous year’s growth.
- Develops graceful branches with an upright or arching habit.
- Features opposite, simple leaves, ovate to oblong-lancelolate in shape and 3–5″ in length. The medium to dark green foliage is coarsely toothed along the up half of the margin.
- Withstands city conditions, including air pollution.
- Works well as a hedge, planted 4–6′ apart.
- Grows in a rounded shape.
- Should be pruned immediately after flowering.
Last year Lowe’s had an awesome promotion going on where you would text the number and you would get a coupon for a certain dollar amount off. They were giving out up to $50 off. We used our $10 code at Lowe’s for the rest of the trees. ( You can follow me on Facebook for these types of deals)
Springtime is a great time to look for sales on Forsythia trees.
They like full sun to partial shade. They grow fast at a height increase of more than 24 inches PER year. The forsythia grows in acidic, alkaline, loamy, moist, rich, sandy, silty loam and well-drained soil.
Frugal Tips:
Check your local Pennysaver or newspaper for the FREE section. My brother laughs at me for going through this thing like I do every week, but it’s so worth it. Free is free.
We saw forsythia trees free all you had to do was dig up. You’ll want to check this come early spring.
Check Facebook Marketplace, or post in your local Buy Nothing Facebook group and ask if anyone has some.
Lowes also will run sales on these making it a pretty good deal.
You can check arborday.org to see if they have any specials.
Because they grow so fast you can opt for buying 1-2 ft. trees at under $15 online.
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How to Plant a Forsythia Tree
The first thing we did was find a bunch of sticks to use to define the line we wanted to plant the trees. The ones we planted are Linwood Gold Forsythia trees.
The dream is to have them go all the way to the woods. Guess I better keep checking that PennySaver!
These trees are a frugal choice for us. Even under $20 at Lowe’s it’s worth it. Plus the trees are said to be nontoxic to both pets and humans. You can shape these into a hedge- which is kind of our plan here.
The key is to make sure they have enough space to grow. You probably wouldn’t want to put this in a garden near your home, or a tight space.
We want to create more of a hedge row so we planted ours a little closer together. The ideal space is 4-6 feet apart.
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Get a good digging shovel and dig a hole twice the root size and as deep as your container. We did ours 4 feet apart. The ground was already nice and damp.
Be sure to push all the dirt back around it and stomp it down good. It’s so important to water these trees daily for the first few days.
A good rule is 2 inches of water weekly for the growing season. If you have a rainy spring you may be all set with watering.
Where to Plant?
They like at least 4 hours of sun and good soil drainage. You can test your soil with a soil kit here. Forsythia trees like soil pH with a range between 6.8 and 7.7.
It’s always a good idea to add a little of your own compost as well. We don’t have sandy soil here but if you do, this is a must add item.
We are waiting for the plants to have one year of established growth before we prune. Otherwise it is said to prune your trees every spring after they are done flowering. You can read how to prune forsythia trees here.
I can’t wait to see how these hold up and grow next spring! I’ll share pictures with you on Facebook and Insta!