Asking 80s rock chick Kim Wilde to choose her favourite plant is like asking her to name a favourite child, the singer turned celebrity gardener says.

The diminutive sex symbol has traded her microphone for secateurs, becoming one of the UKs prominent gardening experts with a series recorded for the BBCs Garden Invaders, a spot on ITVs Better Gardens show, monthly articles for Prima womens magazine and a weekly gardening column, "Wilde Side", in The Guardian.

Who would have thought the crop-haired 20-year-old who sang: "Were the kids in America" would morph from queen of youth to expert green thumb by the year 2000?

Thats not to say she doesnt still enjoy performing, which is the reason she finds herself in Australia, performing as part of the Here and Now tour, also featuring the Human League, Belinda Carlisle and Paul Young (among others). A No 1 in the US with You Keep Me Hanging On has ensured that the girl who once toured with Michael Jackson, has made her musical mark. But gardening it seems, holds a special place in her heart.

"I still pinch myself that Im in this gardening world," says Wilde. "Its reconnected me with the earth and seasons and its very humanising. Its a lot to do with people, not just plants. People who have a passion for gardening have a passion for life."

What started as an ambitious attempt to grow fresh fruit and vegetables for her family, became an obsession. "I wanted to build a Garden of Eden for my children. I think weve created a truly enchanted garden," she says.

After completing renovations of their 16th-century barn, perched on a hill in Hertfordshire, Wilde and her husband, actor Hal Fowler, along with children Rose and Harry, realised with horror there was no garden.

"Hal and I created sections - now theres a meadow, a vegie garden, a herb garden and a section of perennials. Weve just completed another part for tropical plants. Its a small, but long garden that runs the width of the house."

Wilde enthuses about the paths theyve mown through the assortment of moondaisies, clover and Achillea to create a meadow for the children to weave through.

"Theres just a sea of little white faces," she says referring to the abundant daisies.

The vegetable garden features raised vegetable beds, brimming with corn, beetroot and "amazing" potatoes. "Its all organic. We only buy organic," she says.

To the right of the vegetable garden lies the herb garden. "Weve prepared the soil really well. Its a great way of growing vegetables. We can grow anything."

In fact she is adamant that soil is the key to happy plants and strongly recommends to all gardeners to nurture their garden by making sure the soil is rich in organic nutrients.

Before embarking on her current tour she says she had whipped up a delicious pumpkin soup with son Harrys carefully grown pumpkins.

"Harry grew his pumpkin from seed last spring. I think its great. I think my children learn a lot from gardens and flowers."

But the well-regarded gardening guru is perplexed by her newfound status. "Its been a strange road - my gardening career," she muses.

It was the gardening goddess Rosemary Verey, who helped design Prince Charless Highgrove, who made an indelible mark on Wilde.

"Her books inspired my own garden at home and my passion began to grow from there."

While music is her first love, gardening soon took hold as well. In fact, she describes how the obsession came to life when every drive became a dangerous endeavour as she embarked on any opportunity to name the trees as she drove by. By then she knew that she was hooked.

Formal training at the Capel Manor Horticultural College in Middlesex was a two-year commitment that earned Wilde a City and Guild certificate in planting and plant design.

Her columns in The Guardian reflect a dedicated and informed expert advising on everything from herbaceous perennials to the value of green in your garden.

When challenged by one of her earnest readers on the frustration of green as a rather dull colour, Wilde is quite blunt in her column.

"Dull green plants? Sir, I can assure you there is nothing dull about green", she writes. "Plants that flourish in shade often have striking foliage. Try Hosta Frances Williams, or the glossy fronds of Asplenium scolopendrium Crispum, or Alchemilla mollis, and I think you will quickly revise your opinion. Theres no crime in craving a colour fix, though, and bulbs are a great source. The small, yellow narcissus Cedric Morris flowers from Christmas to March. For spring flowers, try Scilla siberica. But you cant beat the humble busy Lizzie for flowering all summer in the shade."

Whether shes launching the UKs Christmas Card Recycling Program or enduring a week of colonic irrigation in Thailand as part of a British television program called Celebrity Detox Camp, Wilde is never far away from a challenge.

"Gardening is so healing. It has such capacity to heal. Im sure I was driven towards it for a reason. I was disillusioned with the pop world. Gardening has been my therapy. It helped me to reconnect with myself. It will be with me forever, until the day I'm popping up the very daisies I love to grow."