FORSYTHIA
in my neighbor's yard. You could make an argument for various other flowering bushes being the quintessential suburban shrub, but I would vote without hesitation for the forsythia. When my family moved from New York City to the suburbs of Connecticut, when I was a child, this was the bush that imprinted on me. I just could hardly believe my eyes. A plant bigger than I was that was uncompromisingly cadmium yellow from top to bottom! And I could worm my way in amongst the branches and be swallowed up in the very heart of yellow.