''Forsythia ''×'' intermedia'', or border forsythia, is an ornamental deciduous

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

of garden origin.

Description

The shrub has an upright habit with arching branches and grows to 3 to 4 metres high. The opposite leaves turn yellowish or occasionally purplish in the autumn before falling. The bright yellow flowers are produced on one- to two-year-old growth and may be solitary or in racemes from 2 to 6.

Origin

The hybrid is thought to be a cross between ''

Forsythia viridissima ''Forsythia'' , is a genus of flowering plants in the olive family Oleaceae. There are about 11 species, mostly native to Eastern Asia, but one native to Southeastern Europe. ''Forsythia'' – also one of the plant's common names – is named ...

'' and ''F. suspensa'' var. ''fortunei''. A plant of seedling origin was discovered growing in the Göttingen Botanical Garden in Germany by the director of the Royal Prussian Academy of Forestry in Münden, H. Zabel in 1878. Zabel formally described and named the hybrid in ''

Gartenflora ''Gartenflora'' was a German illustrated botanical magazine published in the period 1852–1940. History Founded in 1852 and edited by Eduard von Regel, the botanist and future director of the Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden, the magazine appe ...

'' in 1885. It was introduced to the

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, Massachusetts, Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston. Established in 1872, it is the ...

in the United States in 1889.

Cultivation

The hybrid is best suited to a position in full sun or partial shade and is drought-tolerant. Like some other forsythias it is one of the earliest shrubs to flower. Well adapted to temperature changes, it blooms with bright yellow flowers that are noticeable even in

twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

. It is one of several forsythia species that are widely cultivated in gardens and parks.

Cultivars

Cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s include (those marked have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

): *'Arnold Dwarf' – low-growing with pale yellow flowers *'Beatrix Farrand' – a particularly

floriferous {{Short pages monitor