As spring slowly begins to appear in the trees and gardens around us, I often find myself giddy with excitement. I can't wait for the buds to burst open with their soft pastel colors delighting my eyes and sweet scents filling my nose. And yet, I can't manage to speed up nature.
Or can I?
Many spring blooming trees can be forced to bloom indoors simply by cutting a budded branch and placing it in a vase of cool water. Keep the water clean by changing it every few days and before you know it, the flower buds will swell and pop! A beautiful blossom has appeared!
My favorite - and easiest - branches to force are plum (pink flowers in the image above), yellow forsythia (below) and the coral-pink blooms of quince (bottom image).
Forsythia is one of the easiest to force. This multi-stemmed shrub produces long, thin branches loaded with flower buds. Simply cut a few of the branches when they are just starting to show a sliver of color and put them in water. You will have a blooms in a few days.
Have you tried forcing flower branches indoors? What are your favorites?