-As someone who is working hard to reduce all the forsythia on my own property, I would urge you to look at this as the opportunity to do the same. There are so many alternatives tgat are better. ecologically and aesthetically. Call it the end of an era..

Cut branches root easily in water.

Or just stick them in the ground where you want a new bush.

The summer has been pretty dry so far. "Cut & stick" might not work.

It would need to be watered if you have dry weather.

Bend a branch to the ground and hold down with a rock or those nails used for landscaping fabric. It will root. After it roots, you can cut free from the parent plant.

Plants grow it is a fct and those will fill in the meighbor has the right to not want it on her side I think fighting with a neighbor is never a great idea and over a hedge that is a bit scraggly right now is not a battle worth fighting. Down the rod maybe rethink that plant for a new hedge or keep it trimmed.

I'm unclear - are the blue flags in your pic the edges of your property liner? Are the plants actually on your side of the line or your neighbors? Not what "hangs over", the actual plant.

If they're all on your side of the line yank them out and the neighbor has nothing to say about it. If she's happy to have them removed, great. I agree with kitasel2- plant something else.

I grew up with forsythia in our backyard and always love the look of them when they bloom. But they're gone in a blink and you're left with scraggly branches. Get something nicer.

Where is the property line? If you can run a long piece of maskng tape or blue painter tape along the property line, and take more photos, it'd be easier to see what to do.

If it appeals to your sense of humor, you can buy some silk blooming forsythia branches at JoAnn's for $2.50 each and stick them in the empty spots for a few months while the real branches fill in. https://www.joann.com/24in-spring-yellow-forsythia-bush-by-bloom-room/19736966.html In the days before computers were used to add flowers to images, a film crew wired fake roses to my neighbor's shrubs to get a lush spring look, color-coordinated to the car they were advertising.

I would just go buy new forsythia and be done with it. And get ready for the next battle.

I laugh every time I see someone buy forsythia. I tell them to cone over and dig up as much as they want (the smart ones do!) Anyone with a mature hedge has plenty of dispensable canes that can be dug. Don’t bother with any other method of propagating.

Here is an areal view with the property lines drawn in and both Forsythia hedges circled.

You can see that one hedge was planted in a straight line. The other hedge is bowed.

The blue flags on my earlier pictures are where the invisible dog fence is located.

The brown area in the middle of my yard is now just grass - it was filled with overgrown bushes when I purchased the property. I also removed 3 trees from the back yard and hedges and plants around the back patio. The entire back yard was a bit of a jungle.

I am not wanting to start a war with the new neighbor. Her husband died and she had to move. Life sometimes sucks.

All I want to do is to cure the see through area in the middle of the forsythia hedge. Grow more that is on myside of the line. I don't disagree with the idea that forsythia isn't the perfect plant, but it is there and established and will hide the fence if she doesn't kill it.

You can just cut on the line side and encourage on your side. They will move toward you at the speed of light, lol!

Forsythia roots really easily. Just bend a branch where you want it, cover it with soil and you'll have a new plant. Or root cuttings.

"... I am worried that if I remove anything she will make a fuss and want the whole hedge removed...."

I would think if she was putting up orange fence and cutting back the forsythia, I would think she would not mind at all if you moved those on her side over to your side. That being said, it would likely be easier to root and grow one on your side, and possibly eventually cut down the one on her side (with her permission of course, and with the hope that it will not grow back lol).

Putting another forsythia on your side will of course make the row curve into your yard instead of hers. Are you okay with that? I'm thinking that if you plant one (in whatever method) in front of the manhole cover on your side, and then don't prune back the existing ones quite so far, eventually you can even out the side of the hedge that faces you. Not sure if that is clear or not...?

While I agree with others who say forsythia is just okay and it would be nice to replace it, I also realize we don't all have time, resources, money, physical ability, etc to rip out an old, existing plantscape to replace it, no matter how much we may like to. Unfortunately there always seem to be other priorities for our budgets than our gardens! :)

One other option is to plant another - different - shrub in front of the manhole cover. Something with nice colorful summer bloom, or brighter or different-textured foliage, would look nice set off against the hedge. And it looks like that manhole cover is fairly centered in the hedge so it probably wouldn't offend any sense of symmetry lol.

Good luck!

:)

Dee

@ diggerdee zone 6 CT The two forsythia at the end of the row that are mostly on my side are the ones that are nearest the sewer drain. The one at the other end was also planted more on my side to avoid the electrical pole. The middle are all on the property line.

Everyone is right. It would be nice to plant a prettier hedge but I am renovating the inside right now and my money is tied up in getting the inside done.

oh, okay, I guess I am a bit confused lol. Thought the sewer drain was in the center. But looking at the aerial photo I still think the hedge is how I thought it was - the center goes towards your neighbor and that is where you want to place another forsythia, correct?

If so I think it's even easier. I thought there was a manhole cover in the center that you had to plant in front of (more into your yard). But if there isn't then you just have to plant in front of the sparse forsythia, yes?

If that's the case, my suggestion still stands - either plant a new forsythia or root it or whatever, in the spot in front of the old one, and then eventually you can prune to make the side facing you more even. Or plant something else in that center spot as a specimen planting.

If I'm still confused and this is all wrong... well then never mind haha!

:)

Dee

You got it right and I think for now my plan is to pull some of the branches forward and root some branches where I want the center of the plant. When it matures the older plant may be able to be removed without getting a big gap in coverage.

Does anyone know how long it will take the cuttings to reach their mature height and width?

If you are going to pull down attached branches, those aren't cuttings. So they have the resources of the mother plant to draw on, and can get very big very fast.