Episode Summary:

In the Season 4 premiere of Gardens, Weeds & Words, Andrew Timothy O'Brien explores the fluid boundaries where gardens refuse to stay contained – bleeding into thoughts, literature, and everyday conversation.

Featuring a reading by Milli Proust from May Morris's 1893 work Decorative Needlework, Andrew discusses the "witchy," free-flowing arts-and-crafts legacy of May Morris before diving into a captivating conversation with French illustrator Margot Reverdy (co-founder of the illustration studio, Swindler & Swindler).

Margot opens up about her mental space Le Jardin Merveilleux, how gardening helped her transition into adulthood and heal from an eating disorder, the mechanics of drawing hundreds of thousands of digital lines, building a straw-and-wood house in the Drôme Valley, and why pink is officially her new black.

In this episode:

00:00 - Intro: The uncontained garden

02:05 - May Morris, George Bernard Shaw, and natural dyes (Reading by Milli Proust)

06:30 - Meeting Margot Réverdy & the story behind her name

10:24- Arts & Crafts in daily life: From Wordsworth covers to Sainsbury's salad dressing

12:22 - Inheriting irises and a love of seasonal blooms from a grandmother

17:50 - Working as a botanical maximalist in a line-driven world

21:58 - How gardens offer sanctuary, grounding, and an escape from urban asphalt

28:55 - Gardening on chalk and gravel in the south of France

32:14 - Being self-taught and leaning into the joy of applied art

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49:35 - Andrew's garden coaching programme, with a discount code GWW15 for listeners to the podcast

Links & References:

Margot Reverdy / Swindler & Swindler: web: https://swindlerandswindler.com social: @swindlerandswindler

May Morris Archive: V&A Museum / Ashmolean Museum

Milli Proust: web: https://www.milliproust.com social: @milliproust

Garden coaching, with Andrew Timothy O'Brien: click here for more information, or to book a free discover call.

Andrew's book, To Stand and Stare. How to garden while doing next to nothing is now out in paperback.