Get Head Start On Bulbs & Trees Sunday Favorites

Chari, at Happy To Design came up with a great idea for reviving some of our old posts that have been buried in the archives - posts that someone new hasn't had a chance to read or one you may have missed.

Once again I'm going to have to beg your forgiveness as I have to go out of town for my young Grandsons last basketball tournament so I will be late getting around to reading your posts.

This is from a post I did on February 21st, 2009 but I noticed that Marianne Binetti mentioned it again in the paper last week so it must be alright to try now.

I was reading a gardening article in the newspaper and thought some might find it interesting and maybe even want to try doing this for a little pre spring color. It was written by Marianne Binetti, a horticultural expert from Washington State, who gives gardening tips and answers on TV shows and writes a weekly gardening column.
You can force Daffodils, Crocus, Bluebells and Snowdrop bulbs this week by bringing them indoors. First, look in the garden for the green shoots of a spring bulb. Dig up the plant by loosening the soil around the roots and then scooping from below. Shake most of the soil carefully from the bulb. Take some moss from the side of a tree and set your freshly dug bulb into a tea cup or shallow bowl propping it upright with some pebbles. Cover the bulb with moss and spray with just enough water to clean up the moss and keep a bit of moisture on the roots of the bulb. In just days the leaves will lengthen and you'll soon see a flower bud. They will flower indoors weeks before they open up outside. Once the bulb blooms you can replant it back outdoors into the same hole it was growing in before.

For An Early Bouquet Inside . . .
If your Forsythia is full of yellow flowers, cut the stems, pound their ends and place them in a vase of water. But if you have Forsythia, quince, flowering cherry or plums that still haven't flowered, it is nice to fool Mother Nature. Cut bare branches that have not yet bloomed and bring them indoors now. The warmth of your home will quickly force the buds open and you'll enjoy weeks of pink, white and yellow blooms.

Now head on over to Chari's place by clicking on Happy To Design and see what great old posts everyone will pick this week.