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Forcing Spring

April 4th, 2016

This is the first year that I’ve been really good about continually cutting branching of different trees/shrubs to force blooms and leaves. So far, I’ve been able to have flowers in the house continually for a month and will continue to have them for at least another month. I cut branches of: lilac, apple, flowering almond, pussy willow, birch, wild cherry, red twig dogwood, and of course forsythia.
forced branches 1
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forced branches
They don’t just have to be flowering branches either, the stems with leaves are just as wonderful when there’s no green in the garden. I’m also enjoying the process of learning how long each variety takes to bloom. Forsythias are definitely the quickest, so far lilacs are taking the longest. Forcing branches is definitely something I’ll be doing a lot of every single winter now that I have a wide selection of options.

Do you force anything for winter interest? What’s your favorite?

2 Comments to “Forcing Spring”
  1. Nebraska Dave on April 5, 2016 at 8:47 am

    Susy, nothing forced here. All the flowering trees are in full bloom right now. I sure wish it would last longer but every Spring for about two weeks the neighborhood is heavenly with all the flowering trees. When all the trees have lost their blooms, the leaves are in full view and expanding into their mature growth. I love Spring. It’s my favorite season.

    Fences are up around the sweet corn fortress. Now it’s time to put the electric fence around the border of the chicken wire fence. Here’s hoping that I’ll be eating sweet corn by August.

    Have a great forcing Spring day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  2. Natalie on April 5, 2016 at 9:59 pm

    I cut a few small branches from our lilac bush and they didn’t bloom. They ended up drying up. Spring has come early to Ohio, so I am enjoying the flowers outdoors. We also have green grass! We’ve never had it this early before!

    Reply to Natalie's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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