Color of spring

Several of these witch-hazels (Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise' (probably)) greeted TPP this morning by the gate to my university's quad.  The bright yellow flowers look quite cheerful against the gray wall and among the gray stems.  What a harbinger of spring! Red-orange flowered witch-hazels (probably a variety called 'Diane') were nearby, but they are less showy generally. In this part of the world these are often the first plants to flower in the spring.  And they are tough and have good fall color. What's not to like? 

Friday Fabulous "Flower" - Nanking Cherry

While most people are still driving home from work, the Phactor has walked home, poured himself a beverage, and is taking a walk around our gardens. Nothing helps you unwind more than discovering that some blasted beast has cropped the new shoots off one of your precious, ever so slow growing tree peonies! Oh, oh, don't let such things disturb your wa. New buds will grow. Instead look at the lovely things that are doing well. One of the first shrubs to flower each spring is our Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa) and it presents a week of lacey elegance. In late June the crop of cherries isn't bad either although they are too juicy to do much with other than make jelly or just eat fresh provided the cardinals allow you a share. The shrub is decades old with a tough, hard dark bark and that's good because the bun-buns debarked all the young shrubs over the winter. So take that as a warning if you decide to plant one; without protection it becomes rabbit fodder.

Friday Fabulous "Flower" - Winter Hazel

Winter hazel (Corylopsis spicata or related species) is a member of the witch hazel family and it's shrubby habit and growth are similar to witch hazel's. But winter hazel differs in one important respect; it has a much bigger and more dramatic floral display. An inflorescence of flowers, each with 5 pale yellow petals, dangles out of a large bud whose pale green bud scales add to the display. The shrub itself does best in sheltered areas here in the great midwest, it fact that may be the only place it does well at all. Although graceful in appearance, the shrub is not robust, so heavy snow can break twigs, and the bunnies love it having pruned mine back two or three times. The foliage is attractive and it grows in semi-shady to shady areas, and although Dirr rates it as zone 5 hardy, that's maybe a tad optimistic. -19 F produced some twig dieback. Winter hazel is a slow grower and probably won't get over 8-10 feet tall ever, with a similar spread. But it's a lovely floral display in the early spring.

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.