[1][3] Her father was an English Anglican clergyman and amateur entomologist who emigrated to Canada from England to establish parishes and studied and illustrated insects (entomology) as a hobby.

She studied under Professor Carrie Derick — another exceptional woman botanist who no doubt inspired Fyles to pursue a career in the field.

[5] After graduation, she spent a year studying the flora of Québec with her father and took art classes as a member of the Quebec Studio Club.

[2][6] Like her father, Fyles was an active member of the Ottawa Field Naturalists Club, serving on its committees and councils and contributing articles to its publications and other journals.

[5] In 1909, when her family moved to Hull, Quebec[5] Fyles obtained a clerk's position in the Department of Agriculture in Ottawa as an assistant seed analyst.

"[1][7] As assistant botanist Fyles labelled the trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials in the Arboretum[1] and was responsible for identifying the large number of plants sent to, or collected by, the division.

[2][5] For two decades she had entered her work in Royal Canadian Academy of Arts exhibitions that expressed an appreciation of nature's beauty, especially that of plants and flowers.

[2][5] She also held her own exhibitions, such as one in Ottawa in 1924 where 17 of her 36 pictures on display were sold, including one to Lady Byng, wife of the Governor General of Canada who later had Fyles paint scenes from her garden.