Forsythia intermedia Week-End

Forsythia x intermedia Week-End, also known as Forsythia x intermedia WEEKEND 'Courtalyn', is one of the best varieties currently available. With rapid and vigorous growth, it maintains a very beautiful compact habit, both upright and bushy. From the end of winter, its bare branches are covered in golden yellow flowers. Perfectly hardy and easy to grow in ordinary soil, it is a very good flowering hedge plant or border plant.

Forsythia x intermedia Week-End is a deciduous bush from the Oleaceae family. It descends from a spontaneous hybrid of two species native to China, Forsythia suspensa and F. viridissima. It will reach a height of 2.5 m (8.2 ft) and a spread of 2 m (6.7 ft) in the space of four years, showing from the start a regular, well-branched, and dense growth habit. Like other forsythias, it provides a true spring spectacle in March, covering its bare branches with numerous small bell-shaped flowers measuring 4 cm (1.6 in) in diameter, tightly packed along the branches, with petals and stamens in a warm and bright yellow. Flowering is followed by the appearance of foliage. The leaves of this variety are a fairly bright green colour from spring to summer, before turning dark purple-violet in autumn, depending on the year. These are long pointed leaves measuring 8 cm to 10 cm (3.1 in to 3.9 in) in length, with a very toothed edge.

Forsythia x intermedia Week-End grows in all types of soil and under most climates. This compact and very floriferous variety is suitable for gardens of all sizes. For example, it can be associated with Japanese quince, Japanese kerria, compact Cotinus (Cotinus coggygria 'Lilla'), or even with mahonias or purple Berberis. It can be planted as a flowering hedge, in a shrub border, or as a standalone plant. You can also train it against a wall. In early December, cut a branch or two and put them in a vase so they will bloom in time for Christmas.