Forcing Branches Indoors

It is a great time to prune some of your ornamentals and then bring them inside to force in vases.

Put branch filled vases near sunny windows and watch the buds swell, some will be leaves and some will bloom. Just remember to slice off some of the bark on the end of your branches. If my vase is not glass then I just hammer the ends of the branches, messy but quick. This helps the branch to absorb the water. Branch out and try different blooms. Here is a list that can be forced (I have not tried them all):

• Crabapple
  
• Red Bud
  
• Carnelian Cherry
  
• Fothergilla
  
• Cherry
  
• Pear
  
• Plums
  
• Flowering Quince (my favorite )
• Magnolia 
  
• Early Rhododendron
  
• American and Redtwig Dogwood
  
• Deutzia
  
• Flowering Almond 
  
• Spirea
  
• Viburnum
  
• Lilac