'Spring has sprung, the snow’s all gone/The lawn’s all covered with doggie dung', laments many a gardener as winter retreats, officially at least, from the land. A popular practice in days of yore was to kick-start spring by bringing branches of select shrubs and trees into the home. Many a gardener would purposely plant a bush of # willow, forsythia, witch-hazel or flowering quince or perhaps mark down where long twigs of the deliciously sticky horse chestnut, or perhaps crab apple and red maple could be scavenged. Few must be even those embedded in the depths of our largest cities who do not have a relation or friend with such a resource before resorting to the local florist.
