Propagating Forsythia by Ground Layering. 10.5.2021

This Spring, I did an experiment to propagate forsythia. My plan was to start a forsythia hedge. I estimated I would need about 12 bushes for a nice hedge. I rooted some cuttings in water (worked very well, and very easy to do). I started some using rooting hormone in seed starting medium (it worked, but slower, more trouble, more delicate cuttings and the plants are much smaller so far). I also bent three stems of the original bush low, digging a hole for each. I bent them so about a foot of the stem was in the hole, with the top sticking out. I filled the hole with soil. I think I watered them two or three times during the summer. Yesterday I dug up two of those starts, cutting their connection to the original bush.

These were excellent starts. Vigorous, with hefty root systems. It's rainy season, Fall now, so they will be off to a great start. I have one more layered start, one more water started cutting, and a few very small seed starting medium cuttings remaining to plant the row. I have planted nine so far. They will be a nice hedge, beautiful flowers in Springs to come and increasingly effective as a privacy hedge in a year or two or three. When I priced potted forsythia bushes lasrpt Spring, the smallest of these were $11 and the largest were $30. By being a little patient and doing it myself from cuttingscate cuttings or layering, this is a roughly $150 hedge, for no cost at all.