A word that I enjoy saying because of how it rolls off my tongue, like Sunoco or Madagascar. A shrub I love seeing because it mutes out the grey, dreary sticks of winter in the Northeast with the most vibrant pop of yellow. It renews my spirit and gives me the belief that spring really is coming even if it seems like it’s moving at a snail’s pace. For me, it’s sunshine on earth, and it brings joy to my heart as it feels as if it’s melting away the cold, long winter.

What I find interesting about this bush is the many varied shapes I’ve seen it in: from tall, sprawling natural forms that feel as if they’re sun rays emanating from the ground to the ‘perfectly’ formed shapes of this shrub that seem a little too tame to me. I’ve never really had an aversion to the well-trimmed, box-like or rounded shrubs of the Forsythia, but I will say they never seemed quite right, a little forced. So, my curiosity got the best of me, and I researched Forsythia. I learned this shrub grows between 7′ to 10’, needing its space to grow and pruned with care though all too often it’s planted in too tight of a space and then cut back unnaturally to make it fit.

I know I have a lot to learn about each flower, plant, and shrub. I’m learning to respect each individual and natural behavior and not shape it into a box unless it has potential for that shape.

And therein lies the lesson for me not only with flowers, but one to learn with each person I interact with: take the time to learn about them, to listen, and to not put them into a tight, boxed space but to accept them in their natural form.

Share with me your favorite spring flower and what you have learned from it.

Featured flower at top: Forsythia

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