Let’s be honest: buying new shrubs for your yard every time you want to fill a gap can get pretty pricey. If you’ve already got a beautiful Forsythia lighting up your garden, why not just make more of them yourself? It’s easier than you might think! In this post, I’ll walk you through exactly how to propagate your Forsythia so you can expand your garden for free.
How do I propagate Forsythia myself?
Forsythias are actually quite versatile when it comes to making “babies.” In fact, if you’re lucky, you won’t have to do a thing! Forsythias sometimes propagate all on their own. If a low-hanging branch rests on damp soil for long enough, it’ll start growing roots right there. You can even speed up this natural process by tossing a little soil or mulch over the branch where it touches the ground.
If you want to be more intentional about it, you can use cuttings (softwood or hardwood) or a technique called layering. One thing to skip? Seeds. Most Forsythias you buy at the nursery are hybrids, which means they usually don’t produce seeds that will actually grow into new plants.
Cuttings, Layers, and Offshoots—What’s the difference?
In the gardening world, people tend to throw these terms around like they mean the same thing, but there are some slight differences. The cool part is that all of them are forms of “vegetative propagation,” which is just a fancy way of saying your new plant will be a genetic twin of the original mother plant.
A quick cheat sheet:
- Offshoot: A general term for any plant part used for propagation.
- Layering (Absenker): Taking a branch, pinning it to the ground, and only cutting it away from the mother plant once it has grown its own roots.
- Softwood Cutting (Steckling): A fresh, green tip of a branch that you cut off and stick into soil to root.
- Hardwood Cutting (Steckholz): A woodier, more mature piece of a branch used for rooting.
Propagating with Softwood Cuttings
Once your Forsythia finishes its blooming season in May, it’s usually time for a trim. Don’t toss those clippings! You can use the fresh growth from the previous year that hasn’t fully turned into hard wood yet. These make perfect cuttings.
Propagating Forsythia through Layering
This is a great “set it and forget it” method. Take a flexible, young branch and bend it down until it touches the soil. Use a heavy stone or a landscape staple to keep it in place, but make sure the very tip of the branch is still pointing upward. Once it develops a strong root system, you can snip it away from the main bush, and voila—you have a brand-new Forsythia.
Caring for your young plants
No matter which method you choose, your “newborn” Forsythias need a little extra TLC to get established. Until those roots are strong and deep, keep them out of harsh, direct sunlight so they don’t dry out. Make sure to water them regularly during dry spells. One pro tip: hold off on the fertilizer for a while; let the plant focus on growing roots first!
Quick Tip: Did you know you can even grow a Bonsai from a Forsythia cutting? If you want to try that, keep your cuttings small—about four inches long is perfect.
