FORCING SPRING

My swollen, red eyes look like I spent an evening with OJ Simpson which can only mean one thing...after a long, cold winter on the east coast, spring is in full swing. While I LOVED the cold, snowy days of winter bundled up next to our fireplace, Joe couldn't wait for the arrival of spring. As we shoveled mounds of snow in our front yard this winter, Joe fantasized about the gardens we'd plant once the ground thawed. Cold weekends found me sitting with a cup of coffee watching the snow fall as Joe talked about the bright yellow forsythia blooming in early April, the pink magnolia tree in our side yard flirting with the pear blooms and, of course, mowing the lawn. If you suffer from allergies like I do, however, the season conjures up very different visuals; runny noses, red eyes and boxes of tissues abound. In early March a nasty nor'easter dropped three feet of snow in our front yard, forcing us to spend the day inside reading by the fireplace. I picked up a copy of my Mother-in-laws book, "FORCING, ETC." which, among other lessons, shows beginning gardeners like me how to "force" plants to bloom indoors. Little did I know that by chopping a limb off of the pussy willow tree in our front yard and forcing it into moist ground, a new tree will begin to grow in a few months. I climbed down the driveway to our forsythia tree...brown and sad after a long winters nap...clipped a few branches, brought it indoors and threw it in a vase with some water. A few days later our living room looked like a florist in Southern California. As I thumbed through this wonderful book I became green with envy and couldn't wait to start our new garden this summer. Because I can't force summer, I'll settle with forcing a little sunshine into our living room!

TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: Depends on plant but typically 2 days- one week to bloom.

COST: $0

STRESS LEVEL: creating a fresh look for free: LOW