She trained at the
Royal Botanical Gardens,
Kew Gardens and was Glasshouse Supervisor at the Royal Horticultural Society's garden at
Wisley,
Surrey. She is known for being a regular panellist on
Gardeners' Question Time since 1994, she has also presented television gardening programmes including The Gardens of the Caribbean and The
Chelsea Flower Show. She writes for several magazines and papers including the
News of the World and BBC's ''Gardeners' World Magazine
. She has written several books on gardening including the Gardeners' World Book of Houseplants
and Gardeners' World Book of Containers''. In 1986, she left Wisley to work as a freelance gardener and speaker. She then joined the team on BBC 2's
Gardeners' World where she was a regular presenter for five years; subsequently, she has made guest appearances. Swithinbank is a patron of the charity the
British Cactus & Succulent Society. ==Bibliography==