Spring weather is right around the corner, but if even that isn’t soon enough and you need a flower fix now, why not force the issue?

Literally.

Forsythis, or forsythia, Salix caprea, or pussy willow, and other flowering shrubs can be cut, brought indoors and nurtured into bloom this time of year. A late March bloom is a little earlier than Mother Nature intended, but tell that to someone who needs a taste of spring now.

“A friend of mine calls this “dead stick’ season,” joked Michael Loos, Ohio State University Extension horticulturist. “Because everybody is out there cutting branches to get a jump on spring by bringing the branches indoors. Once the cold requirements are fulfilled, and they have been by now, the buds will bloom inside.”

A few weeks ago, Bill Collins had a workshop for the flower-starved on how to force branches of trees and shrubs into early bloom. Collins is the education coordinator at Kingwood Center in Mansfield, Ohio.

“Flower buds of spring-blooming trees and shrubs are already formed and after a period of cold weather are ready to pop open, given warmer conditions and water,” he said.

Unlike some other forms of gardening, forcing branches to bloom indoors is fairly easy. You don’t need the mythical “green thumb.” All you need are good pruning shears, water and a cool place inside your home, say both Loos and Collins.

When looking for branches to cut, select ones that have numerous plump buds.

The more developed the buds, the more quickly they’ll bloom. Cut the branches on an angle as you would flowers that are going into a vase. It’s a good idea to cut a few more branches than you need in case some don’t bloom the way you’d like.

Some gardeners like to have a container of warm water on hand to put the branches in as soon as the branches are cut. You don’t have to do that, but if you don’t, place the stems of the branches in warm water as soon as you bring them inside. Recut the ends about an inch or so before putting them under water. Try not to expose the stems to the air again. Remove any buds and twigs that will be under water.

Keep the cut branches in a cool place in your home, out of the sun.

“You don’t want the branches to go directly from the cold outdoors to too much heat,” said Loos. “They’ve been outside all winter, and you don’t want them to have too abrupt of a temperature change. Around 50 or 60 degrees is best, like in the basement.”

Change the water every couple of days as it begins to get foul. You can add some nutrients to the water, but you don’t have to.

The time that it takes for the buds to bloom depends on how far along the buds were when the branch was cut. The fatter the buds and the closer they were to their natural bloom time when the branch was cut, the sooner you’ll have flowers.

“If you cut branches now, you’ll probably have some blooms for Easter,” said Collins.

Once the buds are in bloom, you can display them in a vase on their own. But some gardeners like to mix forced blooms with other flowers in a bouquet.

Said Collins, “I often will go out and cut some tulips to put with the branch blooms when I’m having company.”

CM END WASHINGTON

(Roxanne Washington is a reporter for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. She can be contacted at rwashington(at)plaind.com.)

2007-03-27-INDOOR-BLOOMS

AP-NY-03-27-07 1456EDT