"Ed" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi there

I have a large-ish forsythia that has got too big for the corner it is
meant to hide, and is overhanging lots of the lawn. However, I am
worried that by pruning it I will kill it, or just make it look
horrible.

The trouble is that most of the foliate and flowers are from the top,
and inside there is about 6-8 foot of brown stalks. I really need it to
be max 8 foot tall but it is nearer 12. How can I prune it back so that
it will grow from the ground up again without losing all the green
foliage for a season or two?

Forsythia flowers on the last years growth, ie it flowers in spring, spends
summer growing new wood, and the following spring it flowers on that growth.
The best time to prune it is immediately it finishes flowering, cut it down
to about 2-3ft I would. You can prune it now, but then it almost certainly
won't flower until spring 2008.

Steve