Flo Headlam

Area of Achievement

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Florence Headlam

After a career spanning some 20 years working in the charity sector, Headlam initiated a complete change in direction and studied general horticulture and garden design at Capel Manor College, London. She has been a professional gardener since 2012 and become a co-presenter on BBC Gardener’s World from 2016-2019. In doing so, she became the first Black presenter for the flagship programme.

London UK

2012 – became a professional gardener
2016-2019 -co-presenter on BBC Gardener’s World
2020 – was a judge for BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour Power List
2021 – Headlam appeared as a panellist for the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) Access All Areas event: Inclusion and Diversity

Her linked in Profile shows the following:
Sydenham Girls School
School of African and Oriental studies, African Studies 1995-1997
Capel Manor College – Diploma in Garden design 2015-2017

In an interview with Arts and Garden magazine, Headlam mentioned that she worked as a dancer, earlier in her career.

In a VLOG entry Headlam recorded for the RHS March 2021, she describes how after over 20 years in the charity sector she needed a change. After much thought and some life coaching, she realised that she had always loved horticulture. She started studying part time in General Horticulture at Capel Manor, whilst still working, and went on to gain a Diploma in Garden Design over a period of fivr years. She says that her first working day as a professional gardener was the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012, so that day would always be etched on her memory.

She has her own business where she works with a small landscaping team building city gardens and is also involved with community gardening. Headlam was a presenter with BBC Gardener’s World from 2016-2019 and has appeared on the RHS gardening podcast

She has joined the BBC Garden Rescue show from series 7 (May 2022)

In the RHS VLOG, Headlam states that she has two daughters.

As well as speaking French, English and Yoruda, Headlam has some knowledge of German and Italian, according to her LinkedIN profile.

From her website: “As a child we had a ‘growing culture’ in our household. My parents came from the Caribbean and grew up in the countryside growing their own produce. So they brought that habit with them to England. I remember vegetables coming from the garden to the kitchen table. And as a child I liked to tinker and generally get involved in things, so I was in and out of everything.”

From the BBC Garden Rescue commissioning announcement “I am very excited to be joining the Garden Rescue family and am looking forward to adding my horticulture flavour and having some fun with the other designers.”

https://www.bali.org.uk/news/association-to-host-landscaping-access-all-areas-event/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/SjqMTzNlN8pHmMw0kp4xwv/womans-hour-power-list-2020-meet-the-judges
https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/careers-horticulture/garden-designer
https://artsandgardens.org/interviews/flo-headlam/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2021/lee-burkill-flo-headlam-chris-hull-garden-rescue
https://flo-the-gardener.com/about/

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