Forsythia

Hello, new to the forum!
I have purchased a house with various overgrown shrubs. Please, if someone could take a look at my photographs of this forsythia and let me know if it is worth persevering with or not!

The size reaches nearly to my bedroom window, I have cut away at least a third already, is covered in this disease, and is quite woody. However, it is now starting to flower and bud since having the attention? Is this usual? I have also noticed there are a few off shoots would these be more prone to the disease ?

Thanks!

 

If it were mine I'd cut it hard back all over. It will soon start to shoot again next year.

 

Hiya Bgfloyd....welcome to the forum

Firstly, a lot of shrubs are reflowering this year....your forsythia usually flowers in early spring. It probably would have flowered if you hadn't pruned it

That disease looks like forsythia gall.......you can prune branches affected back to clean wood but if mine I would remove the plant. It would take a few years to recover and flower again so I would plant something else there you could enjoy from next year

 

Thank you both for your replies. The gall is particularly bad, and also affected one in the back garden too. I was wondering if it has had it's time as it looks more like a tree than the internet pictures I have seen!

However, the sparrows LOVE it. I have conifer hedges on the other side so I may try to remove it and hope they don't get too upset while a new shrub is growing in it's place!

It has been very mild! I have a hosta starting to flower too!

 

There are also very attractive and very floriferous forsythia varieties now too....however, if you do decide to plant another then do so in a different site Bgfloyd
Sparrows here seem adaptable.....they have decided to swarm in and around an archway of honeysuckles; I think previously they enjoyed a rather large juniper that I removed