The History of Forsythia

Forsythia is comprised of nine species, most of which are native to East Asia. The flowering shrub was first introduced to the western world by Carl Thunberg in the mid-1770s. Originally classified as Syringa suspensa, it was transferred to the genus Forsythia in 1804 in honor of William Forsyth, a Scottish botanist, royal gardener, and founding member of the Horticultural Society of London. By the 1840s, Forsythia suspensa was growing in British gardens, but Forsythia viridissima, which was brought back from China by the Scottish plant collector Robert Fortune in 1844, became far more popular in the UK. Forsythias increased in popularity throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries as gardeners began using the flowering shrubs — which were then relatively rare — to impress their peers. In 1878, Hermann Zabel discovered the hybrid Forsythia x intermedia growing among seedlings in the municipal gardens of Münden, Germany, and several highly successful cultivars, including 'Arnold Giant' and 'Spectabilis,' were selected from it. While forsythias are less of a craze than they were when the Western world first discovered them, they remain a staple in many gardens and landscapes all over the world today.