Forsythia

A deciduous shrub grown almost entirely for its explosion of yellow four-lobed flowers that line the bare arching stems in early spring, before the leaves emerge. A garden hybrid of two Asian species (Forsythia suspensa × F. viridissima) - not native to North America. Missouri Botanical Garden describes it as a "one-season wonder" that fades into the background after bloom, so it earns its place as a late-winter color signal rather than a four-season anchor.

A deciduous shrub native to north-central and central China, grown for the spectacular curtain of golden-yellow flowers that drenches the bare, arching stems in early spring - weeks before the leaves emerge. It forms a wide-spreading, weeping mound roughly 8 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 10 feet wide, with arching canes that root wherever they touch the ground (useful on slopes, but capable of colonizing beyond its space). The honest catch is the narrow season: after the roughly three-week spring flowering the shrub offers no meaningful summer, autumn, or winter interest, and in Zone 5 a late freeze can wipe out the entire year's bloom because the buds form on the previous season's wood.