Decorating your home for spring: flowers and branches

Spring arrives indoors before it arrives outside: all it takes is a pot of hyacinths on the windowsill and forsythia branches in a vase. Light fabrics, pastel shades and fresh flowers quickly chase away the winter mood. Here are simple ideas for decorating your home for spring with flowers and greenery.

Spring flowers: tulips and potted plants.

View full-size photo

The main ideas

• Potted bulbs — hyacinths, muscari, crocuses, dwarf tulips. After flowering, plant the bulbs out in the garden.
• Blossoming branches — forsythia, cherry, willow: cut in late winter, they open in water within a week or two.
• Spring bouquets — tulips, daffodils, ranunculus, anemones.
• Greenery — herbs on the windowsill: basil, parsley, mint.

View full-size photo

Tips

• Daffodils release a slimy sap that harms other flowers: condition them alone for a few hours before mixing them into a bouquet.
• Hyacinth bulbs can irritate skin — wear gloves when planting.
• If you have a cat, remember that tulips, daffodils and especially lilies are dangerous to it.
• Keep blossoming branches somewhere cool so they last longer.

View full-size photo

A spring palette

Pastels — soft pink, lemon, mint, lilac — and more light: take down heavy curtains and add linen textiles and clear vases. More on tulips in Tulip varieties and colour meanings, and on herbs in Herb garden in pots.

FAQ

When should I cut branches for forcing?

In late winter or early spring, once the buds have swollen; stand them in warm water and change it every few days.

Can a hyacinth flower again?

Yes: let the leaves yellow, lift and dry the bulb, and plant it in the garden in autumn; in a pot it reblooms poorly.

View full-size photo

Author: Maria Svitlovir

Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.