Forcing Forsythia Indoors Will Give Your Home a Burst of Color in Late Winter
Forcing forsythia branches is a surefire way to make your home feel like spring even in the dead of winter. Learn the best way to cut and force forsythia.
Late winter drags when everything outside stays brown and dormant, but forcing forsythia branches indoors brings bright yellow blooms to your table weeks before they'd open naturally in the garden.
February drags on forever. Snow turns to mud, everything stays gray, and the garden looks completely dead. Forcing forsythia indoors breaks that stretch of brown with cheerful yellow flowers that actually remind you that spring is coming.
The whole process takes around two weeks from cutting branches to full bloom, and it works because forsythia buds are already set by winter—they just need some warmth and water to open way early. Forcing shrubs to bloom indoors is basically tricking dormant plants into thinking spring showed up, and forsythia responds to this better than most other flowering shrubs you'd try it with.
Brighten Your Winter
Forced forsythia branches bring color indoors when you need it most. Late winter hits hard after months of dormancy, and grocery store flowers feel expensive and generic. Cutting branches from forsythia shrubs costs nothing if you've got a shrub in the yard, and they last longer in a vase than most store-bought blooms, sometimes two weeks or more once they open!
The timing works out perfectly, too. Cut branches in late January or February when buds have swollen slightly but haven't opened yet outdoors. Too early and they won't bloom at all; too late and you might as well wait for the real show outside. Forced forsythia also makes the outdoor shrub look better since you're basically doing selective pruning while collecting branches.
What You Need for Forcing Forsythia
The supply list is short: shears, a vase, and water. Sharp pruning shears or loppers that make clean cuts work best—ragged cuts heal poorly and invite disease. A tall vase or bucket that holds branches upright without tipping matters more than it seems since branches can get top-heavy once blooms open.
Room temperature water and a spot with indirect light round out the basics. Some people add floral preservatives to the water, but plain tap water works fine if you change it every few days. These Fiskars pruning shears from Amazon make clean cuts without crushing stems.
Cut and Prepare Branches
Pick a day above freezing when the shrub isn't covered in ice or snow. Look for branches with fat, visible buds—thin, tight ones probably won't open indoors no matter what. Cut branches somewhere between 12 and 24 inches (.3-.6m) long at a 45-degree angle so they take up water better.
Make cuts just above an outward-facing bud to keep the shrub's branching structure looking decent later on. Bring branches inside right away and recut the ends underwater or under running water so air bubbles don't block water uptake. Split the bottom inch or so of each stem with your shears or a knife—this exposes way more surface area for absorbing water.
Getting Branches to Bloom Indoors
Place prepared branches in a vase with room temperature water somewhere cool for the first day or two—a basement or garage sitting around 50 to 60F (10-15.6C) helps them adjust gradually instead of shocking them. After that initial period, move them to a warmer room with indirect light and whatever normal temperatures your house runs at.
Change the water every three or four days and recut stems slightly each time. Mist branches daily if your house runs really dry from heating systems. Buds should start swelling within a week and open fully within two or three weeks depending on how warm things stay. These beautiful tall glass vases from Amazon work well for displaying longer branches without tipping.
Artful Arrangement Essentials
This 10-inch tall vase will support forced forsythia branches and add charm with its light green glass and gold rim.
Bright yellow forsythia flowers will pop against this soft blue handmade ceramic vase that stands 13-inches tall.
Add a touch of timeless drama to your floral display with this graceful, handmade vase from Terrain.
Post-Bloom Care
Forced forsythia blooms last about a week once fully open, sometimes longer if you keep water fresh and the room cool. The flowers eventually drop and leaves start emerging, which looks messier than it's worth. Toss spent branches in the compost pile rather than trying to keep them going.
You can force new batches every week or two through late winter as long as buds on the shrub haven't opened outside yet. Multiple vases at different stages keep color coming until the real spring show starts outdoors. The outdoor shrub won't suffer from losing branches—it'll just bloom a bit less densely in the spots you cut, which most people never notice anyway.
