When I think about alchemy, I can't help but look to my garden, where I marvel at nature's ingenuity. It is here, in these blossoming spring months, that I try my hand at another kind of alchemy, as a self confessed garden-aficionado. I may strive to be an alchemist in the workshop during the week, but it's in my garden that I'm in my element on weekends.

I'll mix up heady concoctions of compost, seeds, sunlight and water to magically grow beautiful flowers, blossoming in kaleidoscopic colours and scents, from spiralling earthy fircones to silken pink roses. I'll also find alchemist bees, turning nectar into golden honey. Just as we'll drink a cup of espresso ahead of a creative day in the workshop or garden, so too are bees seduced by the caffeine in flower nectar. What's more, just as we return to the workshop day after day, so too do bees return to those same flowers for the, quite literal, buzz.

I'll mix up heady concoctions of compost, seeds, sunlight and water to magically grow beautiful flowers, blossoming in kaleidoscopic colours and scents, from spiralling earthy fircones to silken pink roses. I'll also find alchemist bees, turning nectar into golden honey. Just as we'll drink a cup of espresso ahead of a creative day in the workshop or garden, so too are bees seduced by the caffeine in flower nectar. What's more, just as we return to the workshop day after day, so too do bees return to those same flowers for the, quite literal, buzz.

This week in my garden, hydrangeas have taken advantage of the heavy rains and their fresh white flowers are blossoming as brilliantly as spring snow in the Alps. Vibrant alliums tower over the fluffy alchemilla mollis, while deciduous jasmines weave sinuous trails across walls and doorways. As I meander through the pathways myself, I long for the ox-eye daisies to open their big white petals and reveal their golden yolks within.

Meanwhile, in the workshop, I am working on making gold mounts for new Zambian emeralds and Mozambique aquamarines. During the process, I have swept up, melted and recycled almost half a kilogram of gold from old mounts, brooch pins and worn out chains. I have also taken this unworn diamond ring and re-imagined it as a pendant and a new ring: an alchemist's magic we call bespoke.

And while the bees are busily creating their hexagonal honeycombs, as alchemists of the natural world, I am transforming base materials and old jewels into sparkling new jewels of exceptional beauty, as an alchemist endlessly inspired by the natural world.