Lynwood Gold is the forsythia that announces spring in Birmingham, loading its bare, arching branches with bright yellow flowers in late winter before anything else wakes up. It grows fast into a fountain-shaped shrub eight to ten feet tall.

Give it full sun for the heaviest bloom and room to arch; it looks best unsheared. Prune right after flowering, cutting a few of the oldest canes to the ground each year. It handles clay, drought, and neglect.