Forcing Flowering Branches Forcing Flowering Branches
But what if you missed that botanical boat as well, and now here it is February, and you're wondering if spring will ever arrive?
This works on the same principle as forcing bulbs; the warmth and sunlight in the home tricks the tree branches into believing that spring has indeed sprung, and so they start blooming, giving you a fresh and long-lasting floral display.
These branches can be put to best effect in a setting where you have enough room for them to really stand tall, and you should cut them so that they're no shorter than about 10". A dining room table, a hallway chest of drawers, or a coffee table cleared of clutter are all good locations.
You can buy branches to force at a florist's, but if you want to cut your own, don't just plunge out there into the yard with a pair of scissors and a determination to bring winter to its knees.
Even though it may seem that spring will never come, try to take the long view here and think at this point of pruning the tree rather than gathering branches. Look for spots that seem overgrown, or which branches are getting a little unruly, and trim from there.
Cut the branch from the tree with a sharp blade, using care about where you cut in terms of how the tree will look without the branch, cutting about 1/4 of an inch above a branch stem.
If you're doing this before temperatures have risen above freezing, first put the branches into cold water, so they aren't shocked into blooming too quickly. The next day (or right away if you've waited until temperatures are above freezing), slit into the bottom of each branch vertically about three inches. Put them in a pot of warm tapwater (use a pot so that you have room for this next step) and holding the knife and stem underwater, trim another inch from the bottom. This will allow the water to come into the open cells of the branch. Another approach some people employ is to use a hammer to pound the bottom of each branch so water can get into it.
Change the water every few days, and keep the vase in a room that's about 65 or 70 degrees. The blooms should begin opening in one or two weeks.
Branches from fruit trees, dogwood, magnolia, and forsythia are especially amenable to being forced. Or maybe we should just say, "encouraged."