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Gardens, balconies and window boxes have become a haven for millions of people during lockdown. Not just gazing at them, but planting in them too.

If you want to spend this time cultivating your beds or boxes - and see quick results, there are some flowers which show off their colours sooner than others.

To help your garden grow, ����ý Bitesize asked the experts at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) for a bit of green-fingered advice. Some flowers are best planted a little later in the spring than others, but they should all bring a splash of loveliness to your life. If you need to buy any of the seeds mentioned, please make sure you do this safely, either online from a reputable supplier, or as part of shopping that meets the current government guidelines.

These flowers are recommended by RHS’s chief horticulturalist Guy Barter. All the seeds listed are large, and easy to handle for people of all ages and abilities. Also, it’s possible to see their full life cycle (going from seed to seed) in one season.

These seeds can all be planted straight into the soil now. They can handle cold weather and even the occasional frost shouldn’t affect them.

Nasturtium. These have large seeds and grow in a variety of colours. They can be sown until late July if you live in the south of the UK where it is generally warmer. If you live in the north, where it tends to be cooler, you can sow these until mid-July.

Love-in-the-mist. These are also known as nigella and are associated with cottage gardens. They are easy to grow and have distinctive seed heads. These can be sown until early July and, if you want to see them again next year, sow them once more in September.

Pot marigold. These are another cottage garden flower and have distinctive yellow and orange heads.

As with love-in-the-mist, it’s best to sow these until early July and repeat in September if you want them back next year.

Sunflower. How tall can you grow a sunflower? Not only do they have amazing heads which cheer up any garden, they can reach impressive heights too.

If they’re up for it, challenge the rest of the family to a competition to see who can grow the biggest one. They can be sown now and should flower in August.

Poached egg. It’s easy to see how this got its name, although it’s perhaps more like a fried egg with its yellow centre and white petals. Not only is it colourful, it also attracts insects, such as hoverflies, if you want to spot even more nature.

Of all the flowers listed in this section, they need to be planted the soonest. The best time to sow these seeds is between now and the end of the month.

Put them in pots

The following seeds can all be planted now, but in pots rather than straight into the soil. They prefer warmer temperatures, so keep the pots indoors and when the outdoor temperature rises (from this month onwards), move them into the soil outside and they should flower in summer.

Cosmos. These look a little like the flowers in the Mr Men books, with very colourful petals around a yellow centre. Like the zinnia below, they originated in Mexico and South America so fare best in long, dry summers. These can be sown until mid-June.

Zinnia. Zinnia seeds produce some vividly coloured heads. They can be sown until mid-June.

Cosmos and zinnia aren’t unique in needing certain conditions, as Guy explained: “When to sow seeds very much depends on where in the world the plant has come from originally.

“Plant hunters discovered and brought back plants to the UK from all over the world for us to grow. They only like to start to grow from seed when the conditions are the same as where their home is.”

The process is called germination. Nasturtium, love-in-the-mist, cosmos, zinnia and sunflowers are also examples of flowers where the seeds are clearly on show. Once the flower heads have dried up, the seeds can be collected and stored for replanting.

Guy advised: “You will clearly see the nasturtium seed on the plant as they look like substantially sized ‘balls’. They need to be collected on a dry day and dried out completely, on paper, before trying to store them.”

He added: “Love-in-the-mist are beautiful light blue flowers and as soon as the petals have finished you will be left with strange ‘alien-like’ seed pods. Let them dry on the plant and then collect the whole weird seed head.”

When these eventually bloom, don’t be surprised if they look slightly different to the flowers you collected the seeds from. It’s the same as children not looking exactly the same as their parents. We may be descendants of our mums and dads, but we are not direct copies!