The landscape is still pretty barren right now but time is not standing still. On Sunday, clocks will spring forward by one hour meaning sunrise and sunset will be about 1 hour later on Mar 14, 2021 than the day before. There will be more light in the evening. Good news for gardeners getting home from work and itching to get started on landscaping projects and planting vegetables and perennials.
One of my favorite early spring bloomers is forsythia. These bushes are among the first to flower in early spring sending out brilliant yellow flowers on the branches way before the leaves unfurl. As a bonus, forsythia is low maintenance, six hours of full sun each day, well drained soil, water during dry spells, and a little fertilizer in the spring and summer will have them blooming like a champ.
A couple of years ago, I tried my hand at forcing forsythia. I wanted a jump start on spring color to enjoy indoors. Here is the scoop on how to enjoy these beautiful blooms weeks before they will come to life in your yard.
- Choose a day when temperatures are above freezing which shouldn’t be an issue now.
- Look for branches that are about 3′ long. The small, elongated bumps on the branches indicate where the flowers will emerge. The more bumps or buds will give you a fuller vase of flowers.
- Once you find the branches you want, cut on the diagonal with sharp pruners.
- Back inside, fill a container with warm water and put your stems in the water.
- After the branches have been sitting in the water for a few minutes, use the pruners to trim off another inch of stem. Allow the branches to soak up the warm water for a couple of hours. Make your cuts on the diagonal to give a lot of surface room for the branches to soak up water.
- The branches will have small buds all along their length. If you leave these in under the water level, they will rot and cause bacteria to grow in the water. Fortunately, they are easy to remove. Just use your thumb to rub them off.
- When forcing forsythia, it’s important to make sure that the water is clean. After a couple of hours, change the water again and wait another hour or two.
- Transfer your forsythia branches
to the vase of your choice, again adding fresh water. If you have some floral preservative, you can add it to the water now to help keep the water clean longer. - Find a spot in your home with bright indirect light. Change out the water every two or three days. In a week or two at most, you’ll have a vase of cheerful forsythia brightening the room!
There are several great choices for forcing blooms indoors including quince, dogwood, hydrangeas, azaleas, flowering cherry trees, pussy willows and rhododendrons. You don’t have to wait until spring has officially sprung to enjoy beautiful blooms.
