About Inspiring Gardens
A Bit About Catherine
My name is Catherine Joyce and I live in Portishead with my family in an old cottage with a large garden full of plants, flowers, fruit and all kinds of nature.
I so enjoy being in my garden and allotment and watching things grow, changing through the seasons that, finding myself redundant as a consultant in the Telecommunications industry after 24 years of work, I decided to take the opportunity to share my experience and enthusiasm for gardening with others. I spent much of 2018 working part time at Riverside Garden Centre in Bristol, helping customers choose the right plant for their gardens.
Since then I have been working in customer's gardens all around Portishead keeping busy pruning, weeding and planting a wide range of trees, shrubs, annuals and perennials.
I have also designed borders for my customers to fill empty or unloved spaces with plants and flowers which complement each other and suit the space in which they will grow.
I have had a number of gardens over the last 30 years, and have learned, often through trial and error, that where and how you site a plant, and how you look after it, makes a huge difference to how happy it is and then how beautiful it looks.
Royal Horticultural Society Qualified
In 2016 I began an RHS Principles of Horticulture course at the University of Bristol Botanic Gardens. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about all aspects of plants and the planning, establishment, and maintenance of a garden.
At the exams, I passed 7 out of the 8 units of the course with Commendation (missing getting a commendation in that last unit by only one pesky mark!). I'm already using everything that I learnt in my own garden and allotment and look forward to sharing my knowledge with you..
APHA Registered Professional Operator
I am registered as a professional operator with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) in order to sell plants face to face locally.
APHA Customer Registration Number is 136074.