Thanks both for your input!! @woodyoak, thank you for your photos - how lovely! And what a transformation from before until after. Thanks as well for the pruning advice for the forsythia and spirea - I tried to follow the 1/3 rule for the forsythia (although I think i was so disgusted with them I probably did more like 1/2) and it's good to know it'll work for the spirea as well. @tanowicki, I agree, that it will continue to bother me and I need to do something about it, I just need to figure out what. As for how often we use it, we do use it but not for anything pleasurable or important (not enough room for that). We use it to get from the front yard to the backyard, although we use the driveway for that as well (runs the full length of the property on the east side of the house). The hose is on the west "forgotten" side, so we're over there when we use the hose, and to take the hose from front to back. I think if I enjoyed that side more I would be more likely to use the west side as a pasageway instead of the driveway. You don't see the west side from the front of the house - it's accessible through a narrow passage between a linden viburnum and some pretty big schip laurel in the front yard. You do see it from the back, but only if you're on the far west side of the yard. As for pruning, weeding, and mulching (mulching what? there is really nothing to mulch right now- no real "beds") - the pruning is helping to make it less of a tangle, but it's also making it look a lot more barren, it's amazing how much larger the 10' width looks once the forsythia was cut back. The weeding is a never-ending battle because the wild onions we have here just don't quit! So, I'm definitely hoping to put my husband to work, making a path and planting some hostas, at the very least! I love the idea of this side garden, but I don't think it has enough "screen", unless we leave the forsythia. My husband is afraid this would be too expensive for a yard that isn't really used much. http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/special-spots/side-garden-plan/ It's raining here today, but I took a few photos to give you a better idea of what the yard looks like (along with a couple of the mystery shrub ... any idea what it might be? It hasn't flowered yet) and a tree that I'm not sure what it is either, although it was covered in white flowers last month. Here is a link that might be useful: Side Yard Photos

Think of it as redirecting or harnessing the energy. Last year when it was unpruned, it had so much energy it put out whatever it could from whatever growing points. If you take out a third of the largest branches this year, it will take more energy to reproduce them, so they shouldnt get so tall. And never prune a forsythia to just a lower height. It will create multiple branches at that cut point and not look great at all. It creates a top heavy plant like what you've got now. The "rule" of thumb is never take out more than 1/3 of anything (grass, shrubs, ...). THat is why the 3-year plan to rejuvenate a plant works safely. Gardening = patience :-) However, there are some plants that are the exception to the rule. Forsythia is one of them that can handle a drastic rejuvenation -- where the entire plant can be cut back to a foot or so and it will make branches from that point as well as create new shoots. However, this drastic rejuvenation must be done during dormancy. It is too late in your case. So stick with the 3 year plan and you should have a fine natural looking hedge before you know it. Then keep it up too. ALso, any shoot that the plant sends out will leaf out. Buds should be produced for next years flowering if the new shoot starts early enough in the season. Even if you have to sacrifice flowers for a year, I think it would be worth it to get control of these. And a VERY light application of some general-purpose 8-8-8 fertilizer might be helpful.

What works for me... Take the forsythia pruning and shove it into the ground any depth as long as it can't blow over. Forget about it. Check it next spring. I don't dig a hole, I don't use rooting compound, I don't shave the stem, I don't water. If your area is really dry give it a drop of water occasionally. Any fungus 'someone' fears is probably being CAUSED by the constant watering. I've never had that problem. Forsythia roots so easily, it would probably grow if you just left the twigs lying around on the surface in a damp climate. Just stop worrying and get on with it. An alternative, if you are scared of cutting it off before it's rooted is layering. Bend a branch down to the ground and peg it down. Again forget it and check next spring. It will have formed roots and you can then cut it off the parent.

NO MORE!! at least for now... Last night the young woman who, with her husband, have a landscaping design/maintenance business came over to stare at the slope, and talk about the grand plan. I am on her schedule for the first two weeks in June. She thinks at least one terraced level, her husband does the stone work. There is already a curved stone retaining wall at the base of the slope on the other side of the granite slab walkway - she suggested snaking an echoing curve into the new garden. They are going to remove the sod (stacking it by barn, for me to use as needed in the hen yard), and then all the rocks that we know are there (this is NH the Granite State, after all). Then they will build the terrace or maybe two, bringing in good soil as needed. Then a layer of compost, and finally a layer of mulch. I will have my "blank canvas", and can spend late June and July getting my pot babies into their new homes. I have resisted "going digital" (bought one in 03 or 04, wound up giving it to my daughter because it was so intimidating) - but I think this project is the one that will push me to getting a camera, so I can record the process. I am thinking of going for a FisherPrice type kids camera - seriously. I am such a technofeeb, and also have trouble with tiny buttons/controls. I am open to recommendations, however....