There’s a German legend about a beautiful and graceful young woman named Barbara, whose father locked her in a tower to keep the young men at bay.  Fortunately, fathers have evolved since then!  While locked away, Barbara pined for the warmth of the sun, the song of the birds and the sight and scent of flowers in bloom. During her imprisonment, Barbara cheered herself by nurturing one branch of a cherry tree and coaxing it to bloom.  This legend initiated the “Barbarazweig,” or custom of bringing branches indoors to bloom during the winter. This practice of getting things to bloom out of season is usually called “forcing,” but somehow the idea of Barbara bringing a token of life into her gloomy tower and “coaxing” it to bloom is more appealing.  Whatever you call it, if you plan to bring branches indoors for an early bloom, it’s essential that they’ve undergone a sufficient dormant period before you do so. In most cases, 6 – 8 weeks of temperatures below 40 degrees will do.  In most years, we will have experienced that much cold weather by early February.  This year, however, we had such warm temperatures in December, we decided to wait until March to do any clipping and coaxing. Most spring-flowering, leaf-bearing trees and shrubs will bloom indoors.  These plants set their buds in the fall.  We usually discourage pruning spring-flowering plants after bud-set to avoid losing any bloom.  It’s possible though, to take this opportunity to do some pruning that will help the plant as well as supply you with early blossoms. Remove diseased, infested and broken branches first and discard them.  Then remove branches that rub or grow in the wrong direction (i.e. straight at the house or into another plant).  If things still look overgrown and crowded, remove more branches to let in more light and air.  Your plant will bounce back with renewed energy in April and in the meantime, you will have gathered some spring inspiration for your home! The best branches are 1 – 3 feet long, a ½” or less in diameter and have lots of buds.  Some of the best trees and shrubs for coaxing are:  azalea, apple, birch, crabapple, deutzia, dogwood, flowering quince, forsythia, honeysuckle, Japanese maple, lilac, mountain laurel, mockorange, pear, pussywillow, redbud, red maple, serviceberry, willow, wisteria, and witch hazel. After gathering your branches, bring them inside.  Cut them in a sink of very warm water on a sharp angle, or slit them about an inch of the way up if they are thick.  This opens up more surface area to absorb water.  After cutting, put them in a bucket of warm water.  Adding 1 T of Listerine or 1 t of lemon-lime soda per quart of H2O will keep them fresher longer.  You can either keep the branches in a cool room and away from bright light until the buds develop and begin to show color or, you can go ahead and arrange them and put them out and watch them as they develop. Either way, it’s a good idea to change the water once a week to keep the branches fresh and keep them away from direct light and sources of heat.  Be patient as it can take anywhere from several days to several weeks for buds to begin to show color. Coaxing branches is definitely worth a try.  Even though an indoor spring may not boast blooms as large and as plentiful as an outdoor spring, it will produce enough color to feed the eye, tickle the nose and warm the chill until spring begins in earnest.