How Does Your Garden Grow?
Milli Proust on her new book & so much more...
Like the reference to the popular traditional nursery rhyme, ‘How Does Your Garden Grow?’, Milli Proust and her latest book carry an air of whimsical nostalgia about gardening and a love of the land while at once being relevant for today and inspiring for the future of gardening.
We spent five minutes chatting with Milli about her wonderful new book, the power and pleasure of creativity, biodiversity for beginners, and much more...
When did you first begin your love of flowers and gardening?
I’m sure it must’ve began with my grandmother. Some of my strongest memories are of being in her garden, she would treat plants like companions to greet not things to learn. I grew up in London, so spending time in her pocket of green felt magical. Later, in my early twenties my dad gave me packets of seeds to try on my window boxes and small container on a balcony, and something clicked. I moved out of London at 26 and something clicked, I knew that I wanted to be a grower. Growing things from seed, and watching gardens grow from tiny cuttings and seeds felt astonishing. It’s hard to describe, but there was something in it that allowed me to have a clear sense of who I am, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
.Who did you write ‘How Does Your Garden Grow?’ for?
I was really thinking about the people who were reaching out to me with big, often quite overwhelming questions about gardening, the kind that can stop you from even beginning. A lot of those questions came from people following along with my garden, who wanted to grow but felt unsure where to start, or worried they might get it wrong. My sister became a kind of touchstone while I was writing it. When she started her first garden, she asked the most brilliant, honest questions, the kind that reveal exactly where the gaps in knowledge and confidence lie. I found myself constantly thinking, how can I make this feel simpler, clearer, more possible for her? At the same time, I didn’t want it to only be for complete beginners. I wanted it to be rich with ideas for people who already garden too, those who might want to deepen their practice, experiment more with propagation, or find new inspiration in how they design and use their space. So it sits somewhere between those two places, I hope. It’s for the person standing at the edge of starting, feeling a bit overwhelmed, and for the person already growing, who wants to go further, try more, and keep that sense of curiosity alive.
Have you always been creative?
Creativity has always been a constant thread for me. I grew up in a family where making things was just part of life. My mum went back to university to study painting when my siblings and I were very young, and later became our primary school art teacher. It felt like creativity was simply part of being human.
Before gardens and flowers, I trained as an actor and wrote plays and short stories. I’ve always been drawn to making things and telling stories, and gardens and flowers have become another language for that expression. What I love most about growing a garden is that it feels like creating a living painting, you choose your palette through plants, then watch it shift and evolve through the seasons.
As well as a gardener, florist, and grower you are a talented writer. What other creative pursuits feed your inspiration and expression?
Writing is a big one, but I also find a lot of creativity in observation, walking, noticing small seasonal shifts, and collecting textures and colours from the landscape. I love to draw and paint, and I do all the illustrations for our Alma Proust seed packets.
I also love cooking, working with ingredients to create something lovely for family, friends, or just myself. I enjoy recipe books, but I also like being intuitive in the kitchen. I think anything that allows you to arrange, notice, or respond to beauty feeds that same instinct.
In the book you talk about biodiversity and its benefits. For someone just beginning to embrace gardening, can you talk about the benefits and small ways we can all begin to embrace a biodiverse planting?
Biodiversity is really about creating a space that feels alive and interconnected. The more life you can encourage into your space, the better. That might look like planting a wide mix of species, or allowing the natural undulations of the land to remain, so plants with different water needs can find their place.
Even small changes can have a big impact. Planting flowers that bloom across the seasons, letting some plants go to seed, avoiding chemicals, allowing space for wildflowers and weeds, and welcoming insects rather than trying to control everything are all great starting points. Even a pot of flowers on a windowsill can support pollinators and reconnect you to those wider cycles.
You’ve recently moved home and garden - how does it feel to be starting again in the garden? Can you tell us more about this new garden chapter?
It feels SO exciting to be starting again equipped with so much more knowledge and experience than the last time I had a chance to start a garden from scratch. There’s a load of humbling going on too; starting again has reminded me of how long everything takes, and how much of gardening is about patience and trust. There’s a real tenderness in these early stages, when nothing is established yet. There’s a lot to do and plant. It feels like the beginning of a new relationship as I’m learning this land, where it’s wet, where it’s dry, all it’s quirks and details.
We love your ‘Windowsill Wednesdays’ on instagram and endlessly inspired by your love of creating with flowers. How do you divide your time between floristry, growing, family, friends, seeds and the time for gardening?
I’m not sure I ever divide it perfectly. It’s more of a constant ebb and flow. I love my work, and I never take it for granted that I get to do what I love.
I try to let things overlap where they can, so the growing feeds the floristry, and the floristry feeds the writing. I’m always trying, not always successfully, to leave space for rest and for the people I love.
This year will be a little different. I’m stepping back from some floristry work to focus more on growing, particularly increasing our seed production while maintaining quality. The seasons dictate a lot too, spring is full of sowing and planting, autumn is intense with harvesting and processing seed.
Rex is luckily very into digging, sowing, and planting, so he’s often right there beside me while I work.
In your dream last supper, what would you eat? And who would be at the table?
It would be something abundant and shared, long tables, lots of seasonal dishes, outdoors. Probably more about the atmosphere than the food, but there would be zingy salads, wild rice, roasted vegetables, something cooked over fire. For pudding, ice-cold cherries, peaches and cream, and rhubarb pavlova.
The people would be a mix of those I love and those I’ve loved and lost, alongside a few people I admire for their creativity and curiosity.
3 favourite or desert island flowers (or plants)?
Roses, always my favourites.
Sweet peas, for their scent and generosity.
Apple blossom, it reminds my of my husband Ted and his apple obsession.
What does your ideal day entail?
Walking my dogs through the landscape here in West Sussex, a cup of coffee outside, time in the garden with my son, making something with my hands, sharing a meal with people I love, and ending the day feeling like I noticed the small, beautiful things.
Where are you happiest?
In the garden, or anywhere where I can feel close to the natural world. It’s where everything makes the most sense to me.
What would you hope your flowery legacy be?
That I helped people feel like they could grow something, even if they thought they couldn’t. And that I encouraged a deeper connection to the natural world, in a way that feels joyful rather than intimidating.
What’s next for Milli Proust?
More growing, more learning, and hopefully more sharing through writing, seeds, and teaching. We’re trialling another 150 sweet pea varieties this year, and we’d love to work our way through every sweet pea in existence to find the very best. My business partner Paris Alma and I are three years into our breeding work, and we’d love to eventually bring some beautiful new varieties into the world.
Let’s Play Favourites
Season: Early summer when the roses are in first full flush and the wild strawberries are abundant
Flower: Roses, I just can’t get enough
Day of the week: Wednesday, I’m always my most creative
Artist: Cedric Morris
Musician: My husbands band Mumford and Sons (I’m biased)
Era: Now with one foot in the 90’s
Film: I love film, this is almost too hard to answer. My favourite new film is Past Lives.
Scent: Sweet peas
Taste: Tomatoes picked on the vine warmed by the sun
Song: ‘I Could Drive You Crazy’ by Sierra Ferrell - we had it playing at the registry office when we got married last year.
Travel destination: There’s something about a Greek island I will never not love, and so many I still would love to explore
Quote or mantra: Grow something you love
Photography: Éva Németh
Visit MilliProust.Com | Follow @milliproust | Order How Does Your Garden Grow?