Pruning Forsythia

[raisedbedted]

We have a large forsythia bush which is right at the front of a deep flower border, I dont fancy trying to dig it out as it is 8 feet tall and the same across.  Do you think it will regrow if I coppice it back to 18 inches of main trunk?  If I could keep it to about 3-4 feet after that then I woukd be happy as the birds seem to love it in the winter.

[raisedbedted]

[Palustris]

Forsythia is pruned after flowering and you can cut them back as hard as you choose without killing them. To be on the safe side, why not take a few cuttings?
To keep a normal one at that sort of height is going to take some fairly hefty pruning every year. There is a dwarf one called Maree D'Or which only grows to about  a metre by a metre.