Winter flowering cherry, flowering quince, witch hazel and forsythia are finishing bloom. Later types of flowering cherry and flowering quince bloom immediately afterward. Lilac, redbud and weigela bloom only slightly later. Flowering crabapple extends the season of such flashy early bloom. It is relatively easy to force any of these for even earlier bloom.

Forcing is more popular where cool weather inhibits bloom through winter. It accelerates bloom simply by exposing it to home interior warmth. Bulbs that remain dormant in cold gardens bloom sooner in warm homes. Winter is the most popular time for forcing bulbs. It is now time to force formerly dormant deciduous stems to bloom a bit earlier for spring.

It is less wasteful to force deciduous stems to bloom than to force bulbs to bloom. Bulbs rarely survive because they exhaust their resources without replenishment. Those that do survive and have potential to bloom again may take a year to recover. Bulbs are not cheap. Deciduous stems are free, and are as disposable as other popular cut flowers.

The most popular stems to force are the fruitless counterparts of fruit trees. This includes flowering cherry, flowering crabapple and flowering quince. Flowering quince is actually not closely related to fruiting quince though. It also includes flowering apricot, flowering plum, flowering peach and flowering pear. Flowering pear is likely to smell badly though.

Stems from deciduous trees that actually produce fruit are just as easy to force. They are only less popular because they are not bred to be as pretty. Also, removal of their stems compromises fruit production. Those who plan to force such stems can leave a few extra during dormant pruning. Collection of stems should not damage or disfigure the source.

Stems are ready to force when their floral buds are just about to pop. Ideally, some buds should be slightly exposing their floral color within. A few flowers could be blooming. At that stage, bloom accelerates significantly in response to home interior warmth. Aridity can desiccate larger blooms. Otherwise, wisteria, dogwood, deciduous magnolias and perhaps azaleas are conducive to forcing.