It's spring, and springtime means flowers, blossoms and blooms. Today we'll devote this column to a beauty-and-health celebration of spring flora, with a sweet-scented selection of recipes with which to make yourself happier, healthier and more lovely.

White flowers are generally richly fragrant, with the jasmine, hyacinth, gardenia, lily of the valley, lilac, orange blossom and tuberose, among the delights in this category. Oh, and the white rose must not be forgotten. For a truly luscious evocation of spring that will intoxicate the air in your home, I suggest first of all a bouquet of white flowers, the more extravagant the better. If you do nothing more than this (well, maybe you might scatter a few petals in the bath and between fresh bedsheets, too) you will, I guarantee, be quickly enchanted. And when you're enchanted, everyone knows that you become more beautiful, immune to tiredness and ill health and look at least 10 years younger too.

For a real treat, try a cup of lavender-blossom tea. Brewed from fresh or dried lavender, this tea will soothe a headache and calm the nerves. Make a whole pot of it, because you can save the leftover infusion for use on your skin. Used as a tonic lotion after washing, lavender water is said to encourage skin-cell replacement, soothe sensitive skin and help eliminate acne and other skin blemishes.