My forsythia looks scraggly, how can I improve it?

Question

How do I care/prune a forsythia bush to make it more compact and less spindly?  I cut it back to the ground last spring after it flowered because it was a total mess of tangled clumps.  Now it's just scrawny.  

 

I also would like to know how to grow new ones that I propagated and have planted already.  But how to I care for them to make them beautiful;?

Answer 1

ph should be 6.0-8.0..................if you want new plants from the old one we wait for spring them when the bumps start.........we cut the branches and use a battery powered screw driver with a long bit and drill holes in the dirt when we want them to grow along the fence. Push some dirt around them and water them.   If you want to control them,,,,,, trim after the flowers die off.  Shape it the way you want it.  They will take over.  We use them out front to control the dust to keep it off our enclosed porch.