CHRISTINE WALKDEN Horticulturalist and Plantswoman E-mail:- christine.gardener.walkden@gmail.com  ││││││ 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. She was a past presenter on BBC’s Gardeners World and presenter of two of her own series on BBC 2 TV ‘Christine’s Garden’. In 2014 Christine presented on her own, a 15 part x 45 minutes BBC 1 daytime series called Glorious Gardens From Above shown on both BBC 1 and BBC 2, which won a Royal Television Society Award for the best Daytime Series. The series was also a finalist in the Garden Media Guilds Awards 2015 under the category of TV Broadcast of the Year. During both 2013 and 2014 Christine was part of the award winning team that presented the series The Great British Garden Revival shown on BBC 2. She also broadcasts on Local and National Radio and is a past winner of the Garden Writers’ Guild Radio Broadcasting Award. Christine also appears on BBC Breakfast, GMTV, and The Paul O Grady Show and is the resident gardening expert for BBC 1’s The One Show. Christine is also a member of the BBC presenters' team which covers the RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows. She is also a BBC Radio 4 Gardener’s Question Time panelist. Winner of THEHORTCHANNEL.TV  Best Gardening Television/Radio presenter of the year 2012 Award and the Best gardening Newspaper/Magazine Columnist/Reporter of the year 2012. Winner of Amateur Gardening magazine's  TV Gardener of the Year Award 2014.   As an author Christine has written `The Houseplant Almanac`, ‘A Year In Christine’s Garden – The Secret Diary of a Garden Lover’,  ‘No-nonsense Vegetable Gardening – how to grow vegetables in small gardens’ and 'Christine Walkden's No-nonsense Container Gardening' - the secret of growing vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers in small spaces. This was a finalist in the 2103 GMG practical gardening Book of the Year Awards. Plus Christine has submitted many articles for specialist societies such as the Alpine Garden Society and the Hardy Plant Society. She also contributes to Gardener's World  and Amateur Gardening Magazines.   Christine works for many of the horticultural colleges and professional trade organisations.   Christine has led both garden tours and field trips throughout the world including Turkey, Iran, Kashmir, China, USA, Central Asia, S. Africa and 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 images from around the world.   In September 2010 she received a Honorary Doctorate from Writtle College for services to Horticulture and in July 2011 was made a Fellow of Myerscough College in recognition of her substantial achievements as a Horticulturist and Plantswoman both nationally and internationally, along with her other achievements in the education, training and broadcasting sectors.       Back to home