I first fell in love with the beauty of flowers when I looked at exuberant Dutch still life flower paintings as part of my History of Art degree. Their incredible but fragile detail, almost like a botanical illustration, entranced me. I returned to my floral passion by retraining as a garden designer after working in the hothouse of BBC news.
Receiving an RHS Gold Medal for an exhibit including an all-green flower display further encouraged me to work more closely with flowers. 20 years on, my artistic appreciation of colour and composition with my horticultural knowledge of flowers and foliage has combined: I now spend my time growing flowers for orders or using them in workshops teaching floral design, another passion of mine.
You can see my programme of garden planning and flower arranging workshops with The Crafty Gardeners here and my individual workshops in Bristol at The Folkhouse.