Linden Hawthorne began her career as a biology teacher before switching to horticulture and earning a Higher National Diploma in Horticulture. She has contributed to several Dorling Kindersley encyclopedias and collaborated with Chris Brickell to standardize the cultivation section of the A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants' newest edition. She is currently assisting Sir Richard Storey (Chairman of Hillier's Arboretum) with the rehabilitation of a huge estate in northeastern England as a consultant.