hey.. still working on your project ...

NO ONE.. can tell you.. how a given plant will color in leaf ..... in what you call shade ... its just impossible ... though in too much shade.. many gold leafed plants go limey.. or even to green ....

same with flower production ...

and nothing really dies in shade.. its just a VIGOR issue ...

your key word was THRIVE.. but you dont tell us what that means to you ... the plant itself.. or the leaf color ...

so .. you also use plural ... i guess .. i would TRY one.. and see how it all works out.. and then contemplate more ... i would really hate to tell you to go for it.. and you invest in say.. 5 .. and it just doesnt work out ...

and that sets aside my being a collector.. and not understanding why you would want more than one of anything..

if it were me.. and i needed 5.. i would buy 5 different things in the same genre.. and 5 years from now .... i would be the expert on what thrived.. in your spot ... in your garden.. in your sun ....

and BTW... i have forsythia spread across the 5 acres ... the variegated one [which itself is less vigorous than green] .. under a boxelder.. does not bloom well ... but i dont know if its the tree re: shade.. the tree re: water deficiency .. or the fact that its the lowest spot in the yard.. and COLD mi air.. pools down there.. and kills buds ... either in fall.. winter.. or in spring ... its really hard to limit oneself ... to focusing in on one variable .. as the cause of a single problem ...

ken

Ken - Lynwood is not a yellow leaved Forsythia - it is the standard cultivar found all over the place. Over here if you have a Forsythia it is probably Lynwood.

That said, your opinion that there is no way of knowing how it will behave in an amount of shade we have no way of gauging is obviously right. Lynwood is so common and so easy to reproduce from cuttings the OP could just try it in various positions and see what works.

Hey, plantingman, L.G. is probably the most common of the forsythias around here. It will grow in partial shade but if too shady it will just be more open and leggier. Like ken said, your definition of "thrive" plays in on this.
One very important thing to remember - down the road L. G. will mature at 6-8' high and 10-12' wide, so plant it 6' out from any structure or property line!
It's fun to take late winter cuttings, stick 'em in a vase of water and have some early spring bloom in the house.
hortster

Thanks, everyone. Yeah, I know my question is pretty vague, and I thought about that when posted it. But by thrive, I mean has the fullest form and densest foliage with the best foliage color and the most bloom production. I like Ken's idea of planting a variety of plants and then waiting to see which one does the best.

It it gets 4+ hours of direct sunlight or somewhere around there it will grow like any other forsythia. Partial shade equates to 4-6 hours of sun and this plant does perfectly fine without impact to habit or foliage density.

These plants set flower buds soon after new growth begins so you should have the optimal amount of sunlight during that time to maximize the blooms.

If size does become as issue you can prune after blooming and before new growth begins. Some years you may have to prune right as the new growth begins.

I can't speak to the blooming power between the cultivars but Kumson and Fiesta have more interesting foliage. I'd never plant a Forsythia that doesn't offer a bit more interest due to the non descript look during the growing seaon and typicaly poor fall color. Some have decent purplish fall color.

Since this is an afternoon sun position, probably with a lot of heat coming off the wall it is actually a sunny position - shrubs requiring part shade would burn up there during summer.

'Lynwood' ('Lynwood Gold' is incorrect) will probably produce too big of a mound of arching stems to be pleasing used in this manner. Unless your house is itself quite big.

No, my house is a single story three bedroom old-style house. There is only one window on the West side but I really don't want it covered by a big bushy shrub.
By the way, bboy, thanks for your advice about the Weigela Wine & Roses from a different post. I wish I would have heeded it though. (Oh well, trial and error I suppose...) My Weigelas burned up on the South side of my house but survived. I'm moving them this Spring to the east side where they will get afternoon shade.

BTW.. forsythia is the absolute easiest plant in the world to root ...

why anyone would buy more than one.. is beyond me..

experiment with one.. grow some more ...

all flowering shrubs are pruned by the rejuvenation method ... you can keep a forsythia.. ANY SIZE YOU WANT ... by removing canes every year ... it wont look like the monsters you might see.. but it will give you those sprays of early yellow ... NEVER give one a haircut ....

ken

Flowering shrub = several different growth types with differing treatments, rhododendrons and azaleas for instance are not pruned in the same manner as cane-stemmed kinds like forsythia.

correct.. bboy caught my over-generalization as to shrubs in general ......

but he didnt argue with my comment on taming a forsythia ... thru rejuvenation pruning ....

if you take 6 to 8 inch cuttings.. 6 of them.. dampen some media.. in a one gallon pot.. and put a gal baggie over it.. inside a few weeks ... at least 5 will root ... remove the baggie.. and leave them in the pot.. until fall planting time.. placing the pot near the spigot but a bright area ... so you dont forget to give them a drink every week or two ... no afternoon sun on a black pot .. and you will have at least 4 to plant ....

ken

Thanks for the info. about propigating Fosythia shrubs from cuttings, Ken. I knew I could propigate Ninebarks and Lantanas from cuttings, but I didn't realize I could do so with Forsythias. That could definitely save me some money in the future, and I'm always game for saving money.