I will own up immediately to having pillaged these forsythia stems from our neighbour’s hedge, or was it the roadside verge? One or the other, anyway.
In the past I generally would have shunned forsythia, both for its yellowness and its ubiquity, but in recent years I have instead admired its early spring freshness on other blogs and in other bloggers’ vases – to the extent that last year I ordered a dwarf variety, sadly struggling but at least still alive. And most definitely not going to flower this year, hence the pillaging. Avoiding using the word often associated with pillage, the stems have indeed been deflowered; long and lanky as they were, the stems required substantial reduction to fit comfortably in the vase.
The pillaged stems and their deflowered lower blooms were placed in perhaps my earliest vase, the blue ribbed stoneware one that historically was used for all those supermarket daffodils I used to buy at this time of the year before IAVOM. Perhaps some of you may have to resort to foraging/pillaging for today’s vase if you have no blooms or other material in your own gardens – that was not the case here, but the forsythia kept shouting “come and get me”, so I did. If you would like to share any Monday vases with a wider audience, please leave the usual links to and from this post.
Rambling in the Garden 
Deflowered stems – that gave me a good old chuckle!
My kids call the shrub Brucie for obvious reasons – to Brits amyway.
Brucie!! I like that 🙂
These yellow flowers arrive shortly after the daffodils, and are a welcome flash of colour in the hedges…
This year it seems to be the same time – although I can’t say I have noticed when this forsythia flowered before. The neighbours have had a tree taken down and perhaps ir was previously more contained as I don’t remember seeing it on the public side of the hedge before
Ours hides in the hedge, so it’s harder to spot at first…
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Seeing that you’re not very fond of yellow I’m reluctant to share my post but as I’m a brave girl, I’l do it anyway… but may I suggest sunglasses 😉 https://personaleden.wordpress.com/2020/03/02/on-tiptoes-auf-leisen-sohlen/ I have three Forsythia that were already here and two of them look stunning. One I’ve pruned very hard so it’s a very compact ball of flowers and the other one has a weeping habit which is delightful. Not interesting for wildlife though which is why I usually don’t suggest it for small gardens but if you have space why not – anything that lifts the spirits is welcome 🙂 Happy Monday!
And yet both your forsythias sound more rhan just tolerable, Annette! But I have my sunglasses ready. just in case… 😉
I love forsythia. It’s been with me since I was a young child. We had a very large bush which arched over the terrace and I could go and play in the cavern the branches created. My imaginary friend, Angela, lived there where she ran a poodle farm!!!! Days long gone by but the cheery forsythia is an annual reminder of that long lost pal. So, I am enjoying your vase Cathy. Thank you! Amanda https://therunningwave.blogspot.com/2020/03/in-foraged-vase-on-monday.html
Oh what a lovely memory to have, Amanda. I used to enjoy a similar sort of den in gorse bushes on Blackford Hill in Edinburgh – but it wasn’t a private den, like yours!
I love yellow in the garden…..and a grey vase is great container. Here is my small vase with a little yellow! https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2020/03/in-vase-on-monday.html
There’s yellow and there’s yellow, isn’t there?! I wonder which yellow is in your vase today…? ps my vase is a more blue than grey 😉
Lovely Cathy! I loved forsythia as a child but have never grown it. Too often nowadays I see it sheared tightly into shape rather than allowed to arch gracefully, but one nearby homeowner has an impressive planting on a berm facing the highway, in its glory now. Hope yours will find its footing soon. Thanks for hosting.
Had to look up ‘berm’, Susie – and your neighbour’s forsythia sounds stunning!
Strangely enough while Forsythia should be easy to grow I never had any luck with it – it really does shout spring!! I like the simple design, the vase complements the flowers. Happy Spring. Here is my vase, thanks for hosting. http://theshrubqueen.com/2020/03/02/in-a-vase-on-monday-march-madness/
Thanks Amelia – and looking at it now, I agree it looks cheerful. Perhaps it’s the ungainliness of most of the bushes…
Ungainly is a good description and rare is the person who can prune them attractively
I also, don’t like the bright yellow, but at this time of year, when everything is brown or gray, and absolutely nothing is blooming, the yellow of forysthia and daffodils are a most welcome sight. I have tons of forsythia bushes in my yard, and when they bloom along with the daffodils, it is a very happy time for me, and hopefully for anyone who passes by. They stand out so against the otherwise drabness of the scenery, that it feels like they are shouting, “spring is here”.
No vase today, still nothing to work with 😦
I can imagine just how bright they must be after your months without blooms…
I have two forsythia in my garden. I like how they bloom early and give me hope that spring is just around the corner.
Yes, they are always an indicator that spring is on the way, aren’t they?
Well…my bush died but iIhave always loved the first yellow of Spring.
Yellow certainly shouts “spring!”
There’s no forsythia here but also no need for pillaging as Spring is well underway – in fact, it felt like summer last week. Unfortunately, there’s been no rain for most of the last 2 months during what is usually the peak of our short rainy season so that doesn’t bode well for the real summer when it arrives. Our state’s snowpack, which feeds our water system, is also very low for this point in the season so it’s looking more and more likely that there’s another drought in our future. But meanwhile, there are flowers! https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2020/03/in-vase-on-monday-more-bulb-blooms.html
I needn’t have pillaged – but they were ripe for the pillaging! The potential for drought must be a concern – I am sure many UK residents would tell you that you could have had some of their rain instead!
Forsythia has always made me want to reach for my sunglasses Cathy but I must admit I’m warming to it with age. There is a big specimen of it outside the allotment gates which lights up like a beacon at this time of year and makes me smile. An excellent piece of pilfering 😄 My vase this Monday is here : https://greentapestry.blogspot.com/2020/03/iavom-late-winter-posy.html
Age does funny things to us, doesn’t it? I might get to like mahonia in a few years!!
Pillaged. Deflowered. It’s all been happening in your vase. I don’t like the yellow of Forsythia too brash for me but looks good in your vase
It’s strange, isn’t it. as I like it in a vase too but not on the bush (a forsythia in a vase is worth two on a bush?) – its yellowness looks paler and definitely not brash at all
Oh very good
No not brash at all!
I have forsythia all over the garden here and I do appreciate it in bud in late winter when we are colour starved. If I didn’t have any, the one I would go for is Forsythia suspensa ‘ Nyamns’ which is an elegant weeping one.
I feel myself warming to it – and Ihave enjoyed it in the vase this week
Quite stunning. Less is more.
Yes, that’s often the case. Thanks Linda
Everyone seems to like hellebores and snowdrops, but not forsythia. hmmm. I do not understand the allure of either hellebores of snowdrops, but I intend to add more forsythias to the landscapes. They are uncommon here.
Wow, Forsythia flowering already?! Is early for your area? Mine is in bud but no sign of colour yet. I no longer shun it as some sorts DO have value for insects… the flies and hoverflies swarmed to mine in my old garden, so there must have been something attractive to them if not just the colour.
I couldn’t tell you if it was early, as it is not mine, Cathy, but I have seen it in a UK vase on Monday earlier than this
I admit to being a fan of forsythia, I think it adds to the zingy spring border, as long as it’s not near a flowering cherry. There is a white one, I believe which I aspire to get
I think it is the woody unkempt bushes that have put me off – as much if not more than the yellowness.
But they can be pruned and managed well and mine sits at the back of a border where it sort of disappears as the year progresses by comes into its own at this time of year
Perhaps we should secretly wage war on all the unpruned forsythia that languish in suburban gardens everywhere… 😉
And winter flowering jasmine
Oh yes, that too – and lilac while we are at it!
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