Forcing an Early Spring

Since a good part of the US recently experienced a thick March snow I can imagine that the longing for Spring is even stronger. If you've been outside recently you might notice hints of Spring starting to show themselves. Some hints are more obvious than others, like the singing birds. If you pay close attention to the trees you might notice buds. They blend in so well I was clueless that they were there.

I was reading an article in the paper last week about a women who is fed up with Winter and how she and her family love to force Spring to come early, inside at least. I kept reading in amazement. She said she cuts branches from around her property and puts them in water and they bloom in just a few short days. I was so excited, I didn't know you could do that! It makes perfect sense though doesn't it? She mentioned one bush in particular is her favorite because it flowers the quickest long before it develops leaves. Apparently this bush is common around here. It's called Forsythia.

We haven't been in our home yet during the Spring. I have to say I was so heartbroken to see everything die off shortly after we moved in. We did not have much color during the fall and winter. My husband and I have discussed many times how we need to plant more evergreens and plants that will provide some color all year long. There is this one massive plant right in the front of our house that's been driving us crazy. It literally looks like a GIANT tumble weed. It was pretty nice when it had green leaves but it wasn't anything special and it just seems out of control. When all the leaves died off we really didn't like it. We've been considering ripping it out and plating Rhododendron in it's place. After I read the article in the paper I decided to take a closer look at it. Sure enough it had buds all along the branches. So I cut some off to bring inside. I also went around the yard and got some branches from other plants. I knew it wasn't very smart to pull out plants until we see what they do every season. And I'm so glad we didn't pull this massive thing out. It is a Forsythia! It's one of the first plants that will bloom and provide a show of gorgeous yellow flowers.

This forcing branches to bloom inside thing is a great way to help determine what kind of plants you have before Spring officially Springs. I put them in the heart of our home so we could enjoy watching them evolve everyday. My husband kept walking by saying, "This was such a great idea, I like having trees in my house."

  I crave the color and life Spring brings. I'm so happy to have a piece of it a little early.

The other branches I cut turned out like this:

The leaves are such a lovely shade of green, I'm curious if they will bloom eventually too.

If you're longing for Spring, go hunt down some branches and bring them inside. It's simple to force branches to bloom indoors.