Gold before green
Four-lobed flowers open densely on bare one-year-old wood before the leaves emerge.
Forsythia Maree d’Or® 3lt — Care & Tips
This store requires javascript to be enabled for some features to work correctly.
This store requires javascript to be enabled for some features to work correctly.
Compact shrub, great ornamental beauty ✨
Family: Oleaceae · Pot diameter: 19cm (3 litres) · Height: 40–50cm
Forsythia Maree d’Or® delivers the first great wave of colour precisely when the garden needs it most. Before a leaf opens, low spreading branches pack themselves with brilliant golden flowers and create a broad pool of light low in the garden. This is the low-growing selection for anyone wanting a spectacular spring entrance without the bulk of a tall shrub: it embraces banks, fills the foreground and flows elegantly beneath more upright planting.
On its own across a bank, it creates an impressive golden embrace; repeated along a path, it turns the edge into a luminous spring ribbon. It looks superb in front of dark evergreens and beside blue or white flowers, where the yellow becomes even more radiant. This is one of those plants that announces spring generously and makes the garden feel suddenly full of life.
Forsythia Marée d’Or® (‘Courtasol’) holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit, recognising its consistent ornamental value and reliable garden performance.
Forsythia Marée d’Or® (‘Courtasol’) carries its low, spreading architecture in naturally short internodes, creating a broad flower display without frequent clipping.
Four-lobed flowers open densely on bare one-year-old wood before the leaves emerge.
Naturally short internodes and spreading stems create a broad low frame rather than a tall shrub cut down.
After the yellow display, green foliage covers the branches and suppresses visual gaps through summer.
Why you will love it: it gives the drama of a classic tall Forsythia in a lower, wider plant that fits banks, foregrounds and large containers far more naturally.
Plant in full sun for the richest bloom, at the top of a low wall, on a bank or in the front of a broad border. Leave 1–1.5m for the mature spread and position against a deep evergreen background.
Low spring bulbs and broad evergreen leaves make the leafless flowering structure read clearly.
Full sun for maximum bloom; light partial shade is tolerated with fewer flowers.
Water regularly during establishment, then as the upper soil dries, more often in heat or a pot.
Very cold hardy, RHS H5; shelter early buds from exceptional frost and strong wind.
Not listed by ASPCA as toxic to dogs, cats or horses, but it is not grown as an edible plant.
Choose a position with at least six hours of sun whenever possible. Light partial shade is tolerated, but deep shade reduces flower buds and makes the branches sparser.
It adapts to many soils, from slightly acidic to alkaline, provided they drain well without becoming extremely dry. A little organic matter supports even new growth.
During the first growing period, water deeply when the surface dries so that the entire root ball is moistened. Once established it tolerates brief drier spells, but not prolonged summer drought.
Use a large, stable outdoor pot with clear drainage holes, and give the branches room to spill over its edge. Check moisture more often in summer and renew part of the growing mix in spring.
In poor soil, one moderate application of balanced fertiliser after flowering is enough. Excess nitrogen produces an abundance of long, leafy growth at the expense of the next display of flowers.
Prune immediately after flowering ends, because the new shoots that mature through summer will carry the following spring’s flowers. Autumn pruning removes buds that are already in place.
Every few years, remove some of the oldest, woodiest branches low at the base. Gradual renewal keeps the base productive without losing the whole of the next flowering season.
After pruning, keep the plant healthy until late summer while the wood for the next flowering season matures. Timely deep watering during a heatwave protects this new growth.
The current plant first anchors its broad framework before making long new laterals.
The next spring’s buds open along shoots that matured during the previous season.
Arching branches build a broad 0.5–0.9 × 1–1.5m crown with a naturally low centre.
Numerous short-internode stems spread laterally from a low centre, forming a broad uneven mass rather than an upright vase.
The flower buds sit on wood made the previous year, which is why pruning belongs immediately after bloom.
What to expect after planting: The plant will invest first in its roots and new low branches. Its full spreading form and abundant flowering develop as the number of mature shoots from the previous year increases; the number of flowers present on arrival depends on season and pruning.
At the INRA research centre in Beaucouzé, France, Alain Cadic evaluated open-pollinated progeny from a fertile experimental line derived from Forsythia × intermedia ‘Spring Glory’. The pollen parent was not recorded. Among the young plants, one seedling stood out for its unusually short internodes, low spreading habit and abundant golden flowers.
The selection was propagated as Forsythia ‘Courtasol’ so that its low habit and generous flowering remained consistent. In Europe it became known as Forsythia Marée d’Or®, while Forsythia Gold Tide® was used in other markets. Forsythia Marée d’Or® (‘Courtasol’) later received the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
Naturally shorter distances between nodes place more leaves and flowers on less stem length.
Buds form on shoots produced and ripened in the previous growing season.
A typical Forsythia flower carries four corolla lobes and four calyx lobes.
Six practical answers about mature size, flowering, sun, pruning, container growing and safety.
Allow around 0.5–0.9m in height and 1–1.5m in spread.
Shade, late pruning or frost damage to buds can all reduce flowering.
Immediately after flowering, before the new shoots that carry next year’s buds mature.
Yes. Its low spreading branches are particularly effective on banks and broad foregrounds.
Yes in a wide heavy container, with regular summer watering and room for the lateral branches.
Yes. Forsythia Marée d’Or® (‘Courtasol’) holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit.