If you are craving flowers, these bold yellow columns of tiny blooms may be the answer

I can’t stop thinking about the flower market. I make idle plans to get up early and sneak out into the dark, returning to the house as dawn breaks and filling the sink with flowers and stems as the kettle brews for the first cuppa of the day.

I can live without flowers in the house in summer; we spend so much time outside, where they are happily showing off. In early winter we can distract ourselves with the greenery of Christmas. But at this time of year my flower cravings really start to itch – spring is tantalisingly close, and yet still so far away. Until then, we have catkins.