Christine has been a horticulturist since the age of ten when she first obtained an allotment and started growing vegetables and flowers, which she sold to her school teachers and local residents.
On leaving school her first job was with a local parks department before going to the Lancashire College of Agriculture. She then worked at two experimental horticultural stations, one in Warwickshire, working with ornamental nursery stock and the other in Yorkshire, working with rhubarb and red beet. Christine then worked at The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew based at Wakehurst Place, looking after the growing side of the seed physiology unit before moving to Llangollen in North Wales where she worked for Dobies, Carter, Cuthbert and Dom Seedsmen as a Technical Advisor. Following this, she then moved to the Rhondda Valley to set up a training workshop for the Manpower Services Commission.
Christine then returned to college at Pershore and then onto Writtle college near Chelmsford before becoming a lecturer in Horticulture at Capel Manor in Enfield. A move to the Baby Bio Company pbi came next where she was an Advisory Manager for the garden products division.
A major change followed when she decided to go freelance working as a plantswoman and horticulturist, lecturing nationally and internationally. A past presenter on BBC’s Gardeners World, Gardeners Diary and a number of independent television programmes, she also broadcasts on Local and National Radio and is a past winner of the Garden Writers’ Guild Radio Broadcasting Award. Christine's life and passion for plants was shown in two BBC 2 TV six part series entitled 'Christine's Garden'.
As an author Christine has written ' A year in Christine's garden - The secret diary of a garden lover', 'The Houseplant Almanac' and many articles for specialist societies such as the Alpine Garden Society and the Hardy Plant Society. She is currently writing a weekly article for 'Amateur Gardening' magazine.
Christine works for many of the horticultural colleges, professional trade organisations and The Horticultural Correspondence College.
Christine has led both garden tours and field trips throughout the world including Turkey, Kashmir, China, USA, Central Asia, S. Africa, the Mediterranean plus many European and East European countries. As a keen photographer, Christine illustrates her lectures and own work and holds an extensive library of wildflower and garden slides from around the world.
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