Four years ago she figured she would grow just enough to fill a vase.
Two garden plots and hundreds of bulbs and tubers later, Mrs Howie-Hughes has a secret garden escape that she is both making money from and getting a whole lot of joy out of.
"It’s so nice coming down here, it is a nice colourful area and seeing the new things bloom every day, it is a bit of an accomplishment. It started out gifting to friends and family."
That quickly grew to selling modest bunches just down the road in Luggate and connecting with other more established growers across the area to contribute her flowers where she can.
"It’s so nice talking to the other flower girls because they are so supportive and happy to offer advice too."
Many of her beautiful blooms can be found at The Green Room, too.
"I was just growing them for myself and I got too many so I just listed them locally in Luggate as bunches and sold a few over summertime and thought I will grow a few more."
Before starting her flower business, Pembroke Blooms, Mrs Howie-Hughes was working as a book-keeper. She decided to take the plunge and start her own marketing and social media business called Pivot, and the flowers have been a rather large side dish to that.
"This year being self-employed has certainly allowed me to focus more on the flowers and do a bit more with them.
"I have plans to make them bigger again next season."
"It started as me wanting to grow a few of my own flowers for my own wedding, and I wasn’t even engaged yet."
This all changed quickly for Mrs Howie-Hughes and her now husband Jamie, the couple got engaged and married within six months.
While she chose white flowers for her wedding because she couldn’t decide which colours she loved best, she says all gardens need colour and sees a trend across the board.
"Colour is coming back into gardens.
"For years it was just easy tussocks and Larchwood, I truly hope colour is coming back.
"The cottage garden where you can just go outside and pick your own flowers, that’s coming back in which is nice, the interest in dahlias is growing."
She said the flowers had given her hope and joy when she needed it.
"The flowers offer brightness in times of dullness. Being able to fill the home with colour, or spend some quiet time in the patch has been great."
Mrs Howie-Hughes will often head down to the flower patch, which her father helped her build, and either pick, look at or enjoy the blooms.
"It is my own little space, it is calming.
"I can play around in here and just be away from everything.
Dad helped put all this in, it is nice him being a part of that. He likes coming down here and seeing what’s happening."
And the flower lover has been learning through osmosis.
"Exposure and experience are the best rather than teaching.
"I just brought anything colourful and figured out half them aren’t good for vases, I need to start buying for trends."
"Your biggest mistake is your biggest learning opportunity."
The most precious part about having the flower garden is it is built on her parents’ land near Luggate, so she spends more time with those she loves.
