Forcing Flowering

Now is the right time to prune Forsythia and Abeliophyllum (sometimes called dwarf pink or white forsythia).  Both of these are early flowering shrubs in the olive family. Both sometimes need pruning to keep them in check. The do not need and should not be poodled thereby turning a graceful shape into an ugly ovoid chess piece. You simply look for branches that are ungainly and out of place and cut them off.  Then you take the pieces bearing flower buds cut them to reasonable lengths, split the base of the twigs an inch or so, and place them in a vase of water. In 5 to 7 days they usually flower. They do best in a cool place. A vase of charming Forsythia sits atop a bookshelf in our kitchen right now. TPP suggests you consider Abeliophyllum as a medium border plant; it handles shade pretty well and is so pretty in the early spring, more delicate and lacy appearing than its yellow cousin.

Forcing flowering

What's a guy to do? Spring is not cooperating, and my taxonomy class needs some flowers. Some of the early flowering tree/shrub species are showing swelling buds, so it's time to force some flowering. Most woody species at this stage can be forced into flower.  First you just cut some branches, and then as soon as possible you pound the base of the stem with a hammer to sort of pulverize it. This helps the wood wick up more water. The branch is then placed in a bucket of water. It works best to put branches is a cool place, but if you need flowering sooner, put it in a warmer place, like a glasshouse. So what's available?  Silver and red maple, witchhazel, alder, birch, filbert, Cornelian cherry, an ornamental pear.  Not bad, but our forsythia flower buds are toast. The shrub is hardier than the flower buds, so if any flowering happens this year all the cheerful yellow flowers will be low to the ground where they were insulated by snow. The silver maple flowered overnight, which was way too fast, but TPP will get some more now that he knows. The Cornelian cherry is showing some color, and other buds are still swelling, so we'll see what happens. Hope the students appreciate my efforts. As for Ms. Phactor, she got some artificial forsythia for St. Patrick's Day because there won't be any others.

How to force flowering shrubs

Via email a reader asks, "How can I force flowers into bloom?" Never force anything, just use a bigger hammer. Let's assume that the flowers in question are spring flowering trees and shrubs, or maybe bulbs. The general rule is fairly simple: if some color is showing then they are usually quite easy to force into bloom providing you with a bouquet a week or more early. Almost any bulb will flower if picked at the mature flower stage. Flowering shrubs need a bit of help to force the flowers open. Take your hammer (thought this was a joke?) and pound the bottom inch or so of the twig to fray the stem. This provides more surface area for the uptake of water. Srubs force best in coolish conditions, so don't place them in hot or sunny locations even if they look nice there. Just before this late March cold spell, the Phactor clipped some twigs of Forsythia, Abeliophyllum (sort of like a dwarf forsythia with white pink flowers - picture from link provided), spice bush (Lindera benzoin), and Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa). All the flower buds were showing just the tips of the corolla, and all of them flowered quite nicely and when paired with some early daffodils, are quite cheerful. And if you look at things critically, you might be able to remove some parts that needed pruning anyways.