China’s budding florists are heading to London to earn their floral wings

If they want the economy to come up smelling of roses, though, perhaps there is an avenue they have missed: flower power.

It is an unlikely new trend – thousands of Hongkongers, mainland Chinese and Koreans flocking to the British capital not for its palaces, Madame Tussauds and afternoon tea, but to learn how to trim a tulip and display a delphinium.

The most striking example of this fragrant phenomenon is the London Flower School, which opened its doors in March. Its four-week Career Course promises to teach students every­thing from arranging table displays and taking perfect pictures to sorting spreadsheets and nailing social media, all the while aiming to foster “artistry not mimicry”. As you might expect, the bulk of its students are female but, more surprisingly, most of them hail from Asia.

“London has become the floristry capital of the world,” says co-founder and chief executive Helen Dyson, of the city that boasts the world-famous Chelsea Flower Show, Kew Gardens and Columbia Road Market.

The former primary school teacher, 49, was uninspired in her job and signed up to a number of short floristry courses. “I found that they weren’t being taught very well – because these people could do, but they couldn’t teach.”