A FLORIST to the stars struck gold at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Janet Boast, who owns Nelson’s Going Dutch Florist, hopes success will stem from being awarded top prize in the Floristry category at the Royal Horticultural Society showcase for her work with Interflora’s exhibit ‘Open Church’.

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The flower expert, who runs the Manchester Road florist with her husband, Peter, 57, was handpicked to join Interflora’s team, which put together a show stopping exhibit which included church bells, windows and suspended chandeliers.

The show’s judges were able to walk inside the exhibit.

Mrs Boast, who was also part of the team that put together the flowers for the wedding of reality TV star Mark Wright and Michelle Keegan, who played Tina McIntyre in Coronation Street, was not the only floral expert to inspire budding gardeners.

John Everiss, 50, from Chorley, who runs his own garden landscape company, won a silver gilt in the Artisan Garden category for his work representing a Meningitis charity.

Mrs Boast, who was also chosen by British designer, Julien Macdonald, to dress his autumn/winter catwalk at London Fashion week in March, said: “I was thrilled to bits to find out that we had won a gold medal.

“The team and I had put in so much hard work, we started at 8am and finished at 10pm three days in a row trying to get everything perfect for the judging.

“The idea of the church was to represent openness, it wasn’t tagged to one religion, it’s for everyone to enjoy.

“And that’s what flowers are, anyone can start planting in their garden regardless of experience, everyone can get involved.”

Mr Everiss entered his creation to raise awareness for ‘Meningitis Now’, a charity offering support and research into the brain disease. He said: his root to success was using his design to represent the diagnoses, the cure, and victims of Meningitis. “It was fantastic to come away with the silver gilt but its more important to spread the word about the charity."

“The models in the piece were cast from real people who suffered from Meningitis.

“The more research that is done now, the better it will be for people in the future who have the disease.”