A FLORIST from Oxford is flexing her fingers to compete in the finals of a contest at the world’s biggest flower show.

Samantha Evans, who works at Jemini flower shop in Oxford’s Covered Market, is preparing her design to take to the judges at Chelsea Flower Show next week.

The 31-year-old from Chalgrove is one of just 16 competing for the top title of Chelsea Florist of the Year 2013.

She said: “It is the biggest thing you can do as a florist, I haven’t had time to get my head around it.

“I was amazed to find out I made it. I really didn’t think I was going to get through.

“We had heats to get through to the finals in November where you had to do a wedding design of something to be carried by a bride and I knew I had done well.”

Miss Evans added: “I found I really like to see peoples’ reactions to what you design and make.

“That can be for weddings, or even funerals – people coming back and saying you have made exactly what they wanted.

“And knowing it was your design and not from a book makes it even better.”

Miss Evans has been working at Jemini for 10 years, initially serving customers.

But after a few years she decided to learn how to arrange flowers herself and pass her floristry qualifications. Her task at Chelsea is to create a circular arrangement about a metre in diameter hanging on a stand in the Great Pavilion at the show.

The finalists will then be marked using European professional judging scores of 20 marks for the idea of the arrangement, 20 marks for colour, 30 marks for the competition and 30 marks for the techniques used.

The winner will be decided at the end of the Chelsea Flower Show, which takes place from next Tuesday to Saturday in the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.

As a team, the staff at Jemini won the Chelsea Flower Show best in show Gold and Chelsea Cup in 1999 and 1997.