Rushing the season

Story and photos by Kathy Purdy

Forcing branches of flowering shrubs and trees is a skill I try to get better at every year—it’s another way to hurry spring up.

The basic concept is simple: cut branches of flowering shrubs and trees, bring them into the house, and let the warmer indoor temperatures coax the branches into early bloom. I wait until we’ve had a week of temperatures above freezing—ideally 40°F or above.

Any early-blooming or -budding woody plant is fair game. It depends on what is growing in your garden. The trick is to make sure you are trying to force branches that have flower buds on them. If you look closely at a branch, you will see two different kinds of buds. The plumper ones are the flower buds. Ideally, cut branches that have lots of flower buds, but also need to be pruned for aesthetic reasons.

Forsythia is the easiest. I’ve also forced flowering quince and February daphne (Daphne mezereum). Other plants (which I haven’t tried myself) include Cornelian cherry, witch hazel (spring blooming types), poplar, willow, red maple, alder, juneberry, apple, crabapple, birch, and cherry. Again, start with what you have, or what a neighbor gives you permission to cut.

Before going back inside, look everything over to see if you can make further cuts so you are bringing smaller branches with the most flower buds into the house.

Treat them like any other cut flower, though you have to wait longer for the payoff. • Use clean water and a clean vase. Choose a container that is large enough to hold the branches and won’t tip over. • Cut the ends of the branches under water, making two cuts perpendicular to each other (like a cross) so that you increase the surface area available for water uptake. • Place in a cool room away from direct sun. And wait. It typically takes a couple of weeks, but could take longer if the buds aren’t very advanced. • Replace the water every couple of days or whenever you see it get cloudy. • When the buds start to open, pat yourself on the back!

You can bring the arrangement into a warmer room (so you can see them as you go about your daily tasks) but they will deteriorate more quickly if you do.

Even if they don’t flower, your prunings may leaf out, weeks before they would do so outside. It’s a little bit of spring indoors and it can be addicting.

LEFT: Forced forcythia blossoms

RIGHT: Forcythia in tight bud before being brought inside

Find more of Kathy Purdy’s writing at her website, coldclimategardening.com.