A PROFESSIONAL gardener from Rishton is returning to her roots to give the nation tips on plant growing.

Christine Walkden, who grew up at her family home in Harwood Road, Rishton, is becoming a regular fixture on television screens after being handed her own TV show.

She has been given the chance to show off her enthusiasm and passion for gardening thanks to a new BBC2 series, Christine's Garden.

The series, which started its prime time weekly run earlier this month, sees Christine show viewers around her own garden, enthusing about different plants and talking about the best way to tackle subjects including 'Growing Courgettes' and 'How to Dig'.

And in a special episode to be aired tomorrow, Christine returns to her roots, visiting Lancashire wildlife hot spots which shaped her career --including her old allotment in Rishton.

Christine has been working with plants since the age of ten, and has been employed at some of the gardening world's most prestigious centres, including the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew.

The 47-year-old attended St Charles School, Rishton, St Augustine's, Billington and Myerscough College before leaving to work in the south, and she now lives in Hertfordshire. Her family still live in Rishton.

She said: "I can't believe that anybody wants to watch it to be frank! I find it quite bizarre that people want to see my life, but in practice, they're adoring seeing my life!

"I hadn't realised anybody in their wildest of dreams would want to watch it. This is laying my life open in a very personal way and it was not easy to do."

Christine's TV series is a chance for her to show off her infectious love for plants to the nation.

She loves working in the outdoors so much that she admits the last thing on her mind before bed is her plants, and she has travelled the world to see new species of plants.

But her favourite plant is the humble soldanella, a member of the primrose family.

Almost six years ago Christine filmed a pilot with the BBC that was never turned into a series but a producer at the BBC remembered her -- and the new six-part series was born. This series takes place on Fridays from 8pm to 8.30pm on BBC2.

Even though Christine has worked as a presenter before, she says she was picked for the show not as a new Charlie Dimmock or to showcase the latest garden makeover, but simply for her love of plants.

She tells the television audience about the 'soul' of a garden, and says she has so far received about 1,000 emails from fans thanking her for her unique approach.

At the age of 11, Christine began to run her own allotment before taking a national diploma, which was required to work in the industry.

She took her first job with the Ribble Valley Council's parks department in Clitheroe.

After taking her diploma she moved south to work at Kew, and since then has worked across the UK. She is now a freelance lecturer, adviser, writer and broadcaster -- including for BBC Gardener's World -- and has regularly travelled overseas on field trips.

The down-to-earth presenter often returns to Rishton to see her family.

She said: "They didn't want me as a lecturer or the presenter, they wanted the passion and the enthusiasm.

"When they initially phoned I didn't want to know, I assumed it was about garden makeovers.

"But when they talked about the person and the enthusiasm I changed my mind."