Forcing Branches Indoors Signals the Coming of Spring
In summmer it was berries for pies, jams and jellies...
...then rose hips for jelly. This beautiful sweet jelly was crystal clear and soft peach in color.
Goldenrod in the fall made my sister Sarah sneeze like crazy, but it brought us back to reality. Summer was over and school was back in session.
Christmas meant making a boxwood tree for our centerpiece, laurel roping for our banister, fresh cut balsam for the mantle and pinecone wreaths for giving to friends and neighbors.
Bare branches of forsythia would be cut in March and placed in a vases all over the house to announce the coming of spring.
Although my Mother is gone, her passion for gathering natural treasures of the outdoors and making pies, jams and jellies or bringing barren branches inside to force remains alive in me. Our daughters will tell you with attitude and annoyance that I will stop the car dead in its tracks for eldeberry, pussywillow. And at this time of year I have expanded my mother's spring interest to include branches of quince and witchhazel from our back yard.
Late winter/early spring is the best time to cut the branches of so many flowering shrubs and watch them as they transform from day to day.
Witchhazel is coming into full bloom at this time of year, odd but true. If you know what to look for, their flowers are truly a sight for sore eyes in February/March. I cut these witchhazel branches (shown below), brought them inside and placed them in water which forces them to open more and more each day, adding color and interest to our home.
There is no better place to view one of the coolest specimens of this flowering shrub I have ever seen. Just visit the lower/children's entrance of the Holliston Public Library.
This is what it looks like right now. This particular witchazel is Hamamelis 'brevipetala' , Chinese Witchhazel. Thank you, Carol Holly, for providing me with the exact cultivar of this unique local beauty and the pictures of the plant in leaf. It may not look like much to most at this time of year but when it is in full leaf it provides wonderful interest and cooling shade.
Walk around town, your neighborhood or your back yard and look for shrubs and trees with buds of promise to cut and bring into your home for spring color. Thanks, Mom, for passing on one of my favorite memories of you and my childhood. This tradition will live on for all seasons. Perhaps our readers will comment on other favorite branches they enjoy to bring inside to welcome the return of another New England spring.