Forsythia

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Last time, I wrote about the beautiful Texas Bluebonnets. Today I want to write about Forsythia. Never heard of it? It’s a lovely Springtime-flowering bush. It can be a bit “straggly” (like a “bad hair day”) or it can be thick like a hedge – depends on how it is planted and cared-for. From what I gleaned from some Google sites, many prefer the casual look, rather than manicured. It’s a personal taste.

There was this lovely unkempt bush that grew under the window of my parent’s bedroom in Albuquerque. It was always a favorite of mine to see it popping out in Spring. Here are a few shots of it in full growth. Not quite as straggly as I remember, but still not a severely shaped shrub, either.

Also from some of the Google sites, I learned that it is a member of the olive family. I never would have guessed that!   I also learned that it is named after English horticulturist William Forsythe. I don’t know whether or not he actually did the hybrid work, but it bears his name, in any case.

While we lived in Virginia, in Springtime, when all the flowers and wild flowers were just beginning to bud, there was a hedge along a county road that was just a riot of those beautiful golden yellow forsythia blossoms. We took some pictures of it, and as you can see, even though the rest of nature is still caught in the clutches of winter and bleak, God’s promise of Spring bursts forth with the forsythia just over-flowing with color. We loved to see it every Springtime, and looked for it.

I was so amused, some years ago, to see a joke in a Reader’s Digest. Seems this gentleman was on an elevator, on his way to his office one fine Spring day, when a young lady stepped onto the elevator with some sprigs of forsythia in her hand. Trying to be polite, and make conversation, he asked her, “Are those forsythia?” Her surprised reply was, “No they are for Cynthia!”

Here are a few more pictures we took, as well as what I gleaned from some websites. Such a beautiful bush. As you can see, they can be rather large, if left to grow uninhibited. But the shrubs are beautiful, no matter what.

Tags: Beautiful yellow flowers, Forsythia, Spring blooms, Spring flowers