Plan Christmas flowers now

Enjoy home-grown flowers indoors this winter, by planting up some pretty containers with bulbs that you can force into bloom. Look for specially treated hyacinths, hippeastrum and fragrant paperwhite narcissi. These can be planted into pots of bulb fibre or multipurpose compost. Alternatively, try growing hyacinths and paperwhites in a glass vase.

1 Fill the bottom with decorative pebbles Place pebbles or glass beads in the bottom one-third of the vase, then add water to just below the top of the pebbles or beads.

2 Pop the bulb on top Position the pointed end facing up and the base of the bulb nestling just above the water level.

3 Top up the water Keep water levels topped up but never let the base of the bulbs sit in water – just the roots. Paperwhite narcissi should flower 6–8 weeks from planting, hyacinths 10–12 weeks.