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Looking for Spring

After cleaning the clutter throughout the house, it's always nice to reward my efforts with some fresh flowers.  The flower shops seem to be overflowing with choices.  Especially nice are the cut tulips, daffodils and lilies.  These seem to be the sweetest reminders of what will be blooming in the months to come outdoors!!

I have been needing to watch my spending a bit so,  I've gone outside and cut my own branches of forsythia for forcing.  In no time I too will have cheerful yellow blooms brightening every corner of my house.  A fresh cut and some hot water is all they need.   If after the first day or so, the buds don't seem to swell at all, I'll give a fresh cut and hot water again.   Peach, crabapple, and cherry are also excellent for forcing.  These delicate blossoms brought inside are truly a pleasure.   Pussy willow branches compliment all of these.

While scrounging the yard for hidden treasures, I've come across some rhododendron and azalea branches that have snapped off this winter.   I have brought these inside, cut the woody branch back to green and plunged them in hot water.  I've pinched them back; nice and compact.  Even if it seems to have a new bud, I pinch it off with hopes they will push out roots instead.  I will plant these little seedlings outdoors in the spring.  Sometimes azaleas or smaller leaf rhododendrons will have outside branches that hang very low to the ground.  I have learned to cover this low part of the branch with soil eventually forming a whole new shrub from the "mother plant".  Once I'm sure this "baby" has remained healthy and developed it's own root system, I will take a sharp shovel and cut it separate from the "mother plant".  After a year or so, I will probably transplant this "baby" to its own special place in the garden.

Even with 22 inches of snow being predicted for the next day and a half, Spring is just around the corner.  Whether it is more birds chirping, more sun, more rain, or more green; every day there will be new signs.  I just need to stop and look for them!

 3/4/01