Forcing Branches Brings Early Blooms
It’s been a tough winter, and everybody hates February. So, why not make these late winter months a bit more bearable by bringing the garden inside? You can purchase bulbs for forcing at many garden centers, and forcing branches from your own shrubs is even more inspiring.
How to Force Branches
It’s easy! Wait for a day when the temperatures are above freezing. (Yes, we will have some of those eventually!) Then, take a walk through your garden, looking for shrubs that won’t miss a few branches. You don’t want to leave the shrub misshapen or thin for when spring really comes so cut judiciously. Seek out branches with buds that only need warmth to bloom. Cut the branches using a sharp pruner so you have some length – 2 feet is great.
Bring the branches in and fill a tall vase with water and set the branches in it overnight. You may want to make a vertical slit 2 or 3 inches up the stems to encourage water uptake, but that is not necessary. The next day, recut the end of the branch at a steep angle and place it back in the vase with fresh water. Change the water every few days to reduce bacteria buildup.
Set the vase in a bright but coolish room away from direct light and heat vents. Wait. Over the next few weeks, the buds on your forcing branches will plump up and then bloom.
Best Choices for Forcing Branches
The best shrubs for forcing include early spring bloomers, such as forsythia, magnolia or red twig dogwood. Mock orange, lilac, rhododendrons or serviceberries are other options for forcing branches. If you have pussy willows near your property, they form fluffy catkins when forced and are a beautiful sign of spring.
Not all branches will bloom—sometimes the buds are not formed enough when you cut them. If that happens, wait until mid-March or later and cut some additional branches for forcing.
Purdue University has a great fact sheet on forcing branches, including a recipe for a preservative liquid to help keep your branches fresh longer.
Mary Lahr Schier is a longtime Minnesota garden writer.
I love my forsythia and wil give this a try. Thank you.
I’ve done this with many different branches from the woods in my back yard. The foliage just needs to be green to add a breath of spring to my home!
I accidentally got twig from my azalea and after cutting end and placing it in water I have 3 blossoms!
The seeds I plant in the wintertime are black oil sunflowers. I put them in my bird feeders and wait for April showers. I have to replace them nearly every day. They disappear.
But the birds that come to eat them bring me a lot of cheer. Their colors are as bright as any bloom that I could grow. And their variety changes constantly as I watch them come and go.
I love my flying flowers even when the snow has gone, for they help control the insect pests that live around my lawn. I still feed my. feathered family in the summer. I adopt them.
And the sunflower seeds will grow and bloom wherever birds have dropped them.