Colour, fragrance, foliage: not words traditionally associated with the bleakness of winter. But those attributes are easily attainable indoors. Many stores now are filled with forced-blooming flowers in pots, from hyacinths to crocus. I was seduced last week by a pot of hyacinth bulbs that were just starting to flower. Below you can see the welcome burst of colour and energy they bring to my living room. If only I could also convey the fragrance, which is beautifully intoxicating.

This is how the hyacinths looked last Friday. Below you can see the difference a week in bright light makes.

An added burst of colour to the living room.The fragrance of these multiple hyacinths fills the room with natural energy. A cyclamen grows in another corner of my living room. The delicate flowers hang like little baskets over the foliage.

The foliage of the cyclamen itself is stunning: a patterned leaf in light and dark shades of green.Crocuses are coming up in my living room too. Take that, Old Man Winter.