GREEN GUY REPORT: Week of February 23

May the FORCE be with you!

You have the power to trick plants into thinking it’s springtime and to force their blooms. The best time of year to force branches to bloom indoors is in the early spring.

But because of climate change and our incredible warm weather, you could probably do this much sooner. Indoor heat, and access to water from cutting the branch in a vase, will ignite these little time bombs to burst into bloom. Watch as flower buds begin to swell.

Many spring flowering shrubs and trees — cherry trees, American dogwood, quince, red bud to name a few — will respond quite well to forcing. But the queen of all of these is the forsythia shrub , with its electric yellow spring flowers. The Latin translation is forced indoors. (I made that up.)

If you don’t have your own shrubs, just ask a neighbor; I’m sure they will say yes. (LOL)

If all else fails, you can always pick up some branches from your local florist. If they don’t have them, just ask for an order. Outdoors, these plants and shrubs would take months to bloom. Indoors, it will only take a few short weeks.

More forcing can occur with bulbs. The easiest and one of the fastest is the paper-white narcissus. Get a little gravel, put it into a flat attractive container, place the bulbs in gravel and a little more gravel on top. This is done so that when they grow, they will be stable and not fall over. The roots will start to form within a week.

Remember to water it frequently!

There are no side effects from this anti-depression med, only deep pleasant feelings watching these branches and bulbs come into bloom.