Bosman's Winter Bowl (33cm) Cyclamen, Pansy, Juncus, Euonymus Terracotta Bowl Planter sold by Boma Garden Centre

Winter is when a front step needs the most help, and this outdoor planter is made for exactly that. Bosman’s Winter Bowl has a purple cyclamen at its heart, with two pansies tucked alongside and a euonymus harlequin adding cream and green leaves. Then there’s the juncus spiralis, a tangle of corkscrew stems that looks as if someone has doodled it in. It’s the bit visitors always ask about.We plant each one by hand at Boma in Kentish Town, to order, in an Antico Annalise bowl. It’s a garden plant pot that sits happily on a front step, by the door to a balcony or on a courtyard table where you’ll catch it from the kitchen window.It makes coming home on a dark January evening a little more cheerful. You get colour by the door, something curious to look at, and nothing to plant yourself.