If your goal is to keep a ready stock of stems and branches to add to garden florals all year round, then you must plant Cornus Mas. Commonly known as Cornelian cherry, it is a mixed border cutting garden must have plant.

CORNUS MAS -Cornelian cherry

• Zone 4-8
• Blooms late March to early April
• Easy to force indoors for those late winter florals.

IN THE GARDEN: Grow Cornus mas for its early yellow flowers, which look like sweet little pom-pom puffballs. It is a great alternative to forsythia.

His peeling bark looks great in tree or shrub habit.

Tolerates partial shade and moderate soils.

COMBINE WITH: Daffodils and other spring flowering beauties such as hellebores.

IN THE VESSEL: Display bunches of long branches or feature a single stem in a simple bud vase. The beauty of this flowering branch is in the multitude of blossoms and the golden haze of color it brings to the room. This is an easy branch to force and the blooms last long indoors – roughly 12 days.

COMBINE WITH: Simple green textures that can bring interest to the base of your arrangement like bergenia. Weave smaller pieces into spring wreaths or table adornments.  -Roanne

images from Brides UK, 66 square feet, Roanne Robbins