Forcing spring flowering trees and shrubs

Those of us up north get a little antsy in March waiting for our flowers and shrubs to bloom. I usually cut off branches of my weeping cherry tree early in March and force them to bloom. I have a little success with it, a few blossoms on each branch. I found this article (click on the blog title for link) with steps to take for fooling your branches into thinking it's spring. I didn't find this article until late March and I hope my tree knows it's spring and I don't have to fool it. I cut a few branches yesterday and put them in a vase of water. I'll post a picture of them in bloom (if they bloom.)
Has anyone had good luck forcing spring branches into bloom? Which branches have you found work best?