Forcing Blooms

Early last week, when I was still traveling back and forth to visit at the hospital in Philadelphia, I got it into my head that I would like to make some forsythia bloom.  It is called "forcing" when you bring branches indoors, where it is warm, in order to make them bloom early.  I had never done it before.

We have some very wild forsythia bushes on the edge of our partly wooded yard.  They get a good amount of shade and they usually bloom in late March or early April.  I went outside last Sunday and cut several branches.  I trimmed everything off of the bottom 8-10" of the branches and put them in a vase with warm water.  That's it.

For the last couple of days, the buds have been swelling.  This is how they brightened my dining room this morning.

Also this morning, I went out to the bush to take a photo to show you what its branches still look like.

The weather in this part of the US has been very warm and quite beautiful for March.  I love Spring very much, and I am happy to have it indoors as well!