A florist has hit out at a “ludicrous” online furore after she was criticised for selling brambles at her shop.

Patricia Newmark, the owner of The Fitzroy’s Flowers Collection in Regent’s Park Road, Primrose Hill, told Ham & High there is “no comparison” between her £9.95 brambles and those that grow in a hedgerow.

Her comments come after a visitor to London from Warwickshire told the Evening Standard she “couldn’t believe” how much the florist was selling the brambles for.

The tourist, Gayle Selby-Bradley, said: “We know a lot of people outside London constantly battling with bramble bushes in their gardens and I can't imagine they'd be persuaded to pay £9.95 for a bunch of them.”

After she shared a picture of the brambles outside Fitzroy’s on Facebook, others agreed in comments below the post.

One person described it as "peak London". Another said: “Absolutely nothing explains that price when blackberries literally grow wild all over the UK.”

But Ms Newmark has hit back at her critics, saying: “I honestly can’t understand people anymore.

“You go into the countryside and into your garden and you can pick a free blackberry off of your bush or hedge.

“But what about when you go to the supermarket and there are blackberries in a punnet and you pay for them and you buy them? I mean it’s no different, it’s actually ludicrous.”

She added that the bramble bunches, intended for use in displays, have been received positively by other customers.

Ms Newmark said: “These that we buy, the ornamental ones, are on a 20-25cm stem. You get a straightish stem with the blackberries at the top.

“They’re nothing like blackberries that grow in a hedgerow. There’s no comparison.”

The florist told Ham and High that the pricing reflected the fact that they are specialised, greenhouse-grown brambles.

She said: “The growers charge the wholesaler for them and the wholesaler charges me for them and I charge the customer for them.

“You could pick daffodils in the spring in the forest, but I buy them. I have to pay for them and then we sell them and then we charge. It is called business.”