Start flowers early in cold climes

After a long Minnesota winter, I'm really ready to zing into spring. The kids are shedding their coats, just like animals do, and everyone's eager to clean out, spruce up and play outside. However, while my favorite flowers are blooming in warmer climates, I'm still looking out on a yard covered in snow and mud. Out of desperation comes ingenuity. I've cured my spring fever by bringing colorful hyacinth flowers indoors using plastic six-pack rings!

Let's get growin'. First the turf: Fill a flowerpot 3/4 full with sterile potting soil. Sprinkle ryegrass seeds or whole wheat berries on top. Mist the soil with water. Cover with plastic wrap to retain moisture and place in indirect sunlight. Keep moist until seeds sprout, about four days. Remove plastic wrap and set pot in a sunny window.

To make hyacinth flowers, you'll need: plastic six-pack rings, a pushpin from your bulletin board, scissors and a thin wooden shish-kebab skewer. To make them colorful, you'll need spray paint or leftover latex wall paint.

Cut out each circle of the plastic six-pack to make six complete rings. Bend one into a figure-eight shape and poke a pushpin through the middle of the figure eight to create a hole. Hold the shape while removing the pushpin, and then poke the skewer through the hole. Push the figure eight down the skewer and add another figure-eight shape. As you push the second one down the skewer, twist it so that it doesn't line up perfectly with the first one. Continue adding as many as you wish to complete your flower, making sure you keep a "skewer stem." I use 36 rings for a large hyacinth, but a smaller flower works with five to six loops.

Spray paint the blooms outdoors according to product instructions. My favorite technique, which is by far the easiest, is simply to dip a flower in a can of bright, leftover latex house paint. Gently lift it up, let any excess drip off, and then poke the skewer "stem" into a chunk of Styrofoam or florist's foam to air dry.

Make leaves from construction paper or foam sheets. Poke the skewer through them when the flower is dry. As the green grass begins to grow, arrange flowers in the pot.

Extra tip: Make minipots with small flowers for springtime gifts to neighbors.

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Write Donna with your questions and ideas at www.donnasday.com. Donna's latest book, "Donna Erickson's Fabulous Funstuff for Families," is available in bookstores nationwide. © Donna Erickson. Dist. by King Features Syndicate