At Home || Exploring Forced Blooms

The patient practice of watching flowers bloom

This winter I decided to try my hand at force blooming. Last year, I had seen some people do it online, but I lived in an apartment with little natural light, so I didn't bother. I decided to go for it this year now that I have more sun in my life. 

In February I snipped a few branches of rhododendron and put them in a vase with water. It took a few days to see any action but sure enough, they slowly started to blossom. It was such a joy to watch the green buds open into beautiful pink blossoms. 

When March hit, I knew forsythia was going to be one of the first to bloom this Spring. I was guessing a bare shrub down the road was forsythia but really I had no clue. It was fortunate that one of its branches had fallen off and I decided to stick it in a vase since it was fair game. Sure enough, two days later I could see yellow buds opening up. I couldn’t believe how quickly they bloomed. It looks wild but I love how crazily they live in the vase. 

We have experienced another cold, snowy winter here in Nova Scotia, and these colourful flowers brighten those dark days. Force blooming is not my area of expertise, but you should play around and see how it goes. It serves as a reminder every day that warmer, sunnier days are on the horizon.