here is a shot from further away:

the only problem with these plants is YOUR need for instant gratification ...

and no matter what you plant.. with that attitude.. they will all fail ... since they wont be able to grow as fast as you and the ladies want them ...

check out the link.. for future potential ... if you can wait that long ... lol ...

those plants are EXACTLY what i would have expected from plants planted last fall ....

ken

ps: the only way to get instant gratification.. is to spend the money to buy such.. and you arent going to to that .... in the bargain bin ... back in the day.. i used to say.. i have more time.. than money;. so i gladly bought small plants ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=forsythia&t=ffcm&iax=1&ia=images

Geez, I just reread my original post and I have to say..Whats
up with the attitude Ken_Adrian? LOL . If we wanted instant gratification we would
have put up a fence. We planted these
because they match the mature forsythia we already have and they are supposed
to grow fast. I acknowledged I could not get more mature ones mid summer last year
and admitted I got ‘babies’ from Lowes AND stated that they had already grown quite
a bit. My question was whether the bent
branches on two of the plants were normal or perhaps an indication of some sort
of issue.

BTW, 20 years ago I planted (myself) 75 - 3’ tall arborvitae and patiently waited for them
to mature to a natural green privacy hedge. Sadly, we no longer live with them.
We are now waiting for the forsythia to fill in..heck I did not even ask how
long it would take for them to fill in….I just wanted to make sure they appear
healthly as two were not upright like the other.

J

By nature, forsythia has an arching, fountain-like habit so the growth on yours is very typical. It just looks a bit odd because the plants are still quite young and not yet fully established.

ok..and my others are mature so its hard to tell on them. I dug and mulched around them to try and keep the mower away as much as possible. They will have been in the ground a year in July. Should I be feeding or fertilizing at this point?

Fertilizing shrubs planted in the ground is seldom required, generally only when a soil test or the growth of the plant itself says it is needed. Deep, infrequent watering as necessary is about the best you can do for them other than to keep any grass or lawn well away from the base of the shrubs. Lawns can be very greedy in stealing moisture and soil nutrients away from young plants. A wide mulch ring (3') around each or the entire planted area would be ideal.

Are the arching plants in more shade than the others? This can cause plants to reach towards the sun. If not, just give them a little time and they'll be fine.

I would knock them down about 8" from the ground to get some denser growth. I prefer to shear forsythia, but this would be a benefit even if you intend to keep it natural.

I too am a huge fan of the Lowe's clearance racks. I buy with the wait in mind. Give them another year and you'll be close to what you're looking for. Although, I have to say that I have always been afraid to plant forsythia because I understood that they were rather difficult to control.

I have many lowes clearance rescues, a few with interesting stories (like the clearance redbud, which was an impulse buy, which I hung out the car window to transport...... you've heard the rest). My most recent clearance find was a 1-gallon sized gold mound spirea. All of the leaves were brown, but it was a steal for $1 (usually cost $11). Now, 3 weeks later, it is covered in small, bright yellow leaves, and hopefully flowers will follow.