Can I let you in on a little secret?  I love flowers of all kinds!  It is certainly not possible to find flowers in my yard right now.  And I am waiting for my paperwhites to bloom, but that’s going to be awhile.  I regularly buy flowers from the grocery store when I need a pick me up.  But in the early spring I love to have forced branches to remind me that spring is on it’s way.

The only problem with forcing branches is that you have to prune your fruit or flowering trees and shrubs.  If you don’t have any spring blooming shrubs or trees what’s a person to do?  Why make faux spring branches of course!  Now you might just say, “Why not just use the faux branches from the craft store”?  I find that those branches just don’t look very real.  So my solution is to buy faux spring flower bunches and then hot glue the flowers to real branches.

I have some branches that I made about 10 years ago and they still look good.  I bring them out in the spring and then bundle them up and store them in my shed the rest of the year.  I still like to force real branches in the spring but the faux ones last so much longer and you don’t end up with dropped flowers everywhere.

How to Make Faux Spring Branches

Find some nice branches

Wander around in your yard or neighborhood and look for downed and dead branches.  You can cut them from you own trees if it’s time to prune.  Choose branches that are long with a few branching areas.  Gather enough to make a nice sized bundle, about 4-6 branches.

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Remove flower heads from craft store bunches

Carefully cut off the flowers from your craft store flowers.  Cut them so you have about an inch of stem to glue them to the branch.  You want spring bloomers such as apple blossoms, crab apple, forsythia or quince.  Choose a color that compliments your decor and looks natural.

Strategically glue flowers onto the nodes of your branches

With your trusty hot glue gun, attach the flowers to the branches.  To make them look more realistic, glue to the branch nodes.  These are the little raised areas where new growth would normally come.

Place your branches in a container and enjoy

Choose a bucket, crock, pitcher or large vase to display your branches in.  Sit back and enjoy the spring show.

This is such a simple way to freshen up your winter decor.  Before you begin to think about bunnies, chicks and Easter eggs, spring branches can help you to feel like the end of winter is in sight.  No worries about dropped flowers or adding water.  And the nice thing about these spring branches is that they store so well.  Once you make them you can pull them out year after year to enjoy.

Do you like to fill your home with flowers?  What are some of your favorites?  Leave a comment below to tell me what you like?