Broom & Briar

Garden diary · Vol. XIMMXXVIHudson Valley · NY

The working
year, in a
field-notebook.

Broom & Briar is a small landscape gardener of the Hudson Valley. We keep thirty acres of clients across nine houses, from Tivoli down to Garrison, and we keep them by hand. The page that follows is our diary of the season as it stands.

14years gardening

9houses under care

30acres tended

4gardeners

Plate I · The kitchen garden, plan

Lush Hudson Valley garden with stone path, native flowers and neatly placed gardening tools — Broom & Briar / Services

— § I · The house —

Four gardeners,
nine gardens.

Broom & Briar is a landscape gardener of four people, working out of a small yard on Route 9G between Rhinebeck and Tivoli. We were founded in 2012 by Ada Briar and Sallie Broom, who had previously kept gardens at Wave Hill and at Bryan-Hayden Farm. Our nine gardens are all within a fifty-mile radius; we visit each of them, year-round, in a rotation that has not changed since 2013.

We are not a design office. We do not master-plan, nor design gardens for other people to plant. We make gardens with our hands, and we keep them with our hands; we plant them in autumn and in spring; and we record what we do, on the day we do it, in the diary that follows. Other entries can be sent on application.

Below is a record of the working year so far: April through May. We post entries fortnightly during the season and monthly in the deep winter.

— Sallie Broom · Director —Tivoli, NY · spring 2026

— § II · The diary —

Dated entries,
spring of '26.

A working diary; lightly edited for the public side of the journal. The full diary, with photographs, runs to 162 pages and is posted to subscribers four times a year.

Of the first sowing,
and the cold snap.

The first sowing of the year: broad beans, two rows of "Aquadulce Claudia" along the south wall, six inches between, two inches deep.

The cold snap is forecast through Tuesday — minus two each night this week — so we covered the asparagus crowns with a fleece, weighted at the corners with bricks from the old wall. Last year we lost half the spears to a Thursday-night frost we did not believe in; the bricks are intended as a sort of penance.

The pear espalier has set on the south wall; the north arm is two weeks behind. Both apple cordons pruned to one bud over each spur — short, this year, on Sallie's instruction.

Actions taken

Sown: V. faba 'Aquadulce' · 32 plants
Mulched: asparagus crowns w/ fleece
Pruned: 2× Espalier pear arms
Noted: apple cordon, weak spur, south side

Of boxwood,
and the hedge cut.

First boxwood cut of the year on the long parterre. We do this in late April, never March, despite the books; the new growth in May is steadier when the cut waits.

Three of us, two-handed shears, four hours on the long axis and an hour and twenty on the cross. There is one section, by the lemon urn, where the boxwood has begun to brown at the base — we left it standing and will return on the 30th with a flush of feed-stone and a stem cutting from the south end, to see if we can keep ahead of the blight.

Note for the autumn: replace seven box plants behind the urn with a Carpinus dwarf alternative if no improvement. Brignolis will be asked at the August walk.

Actions taken

Cut: B. sempervirens long parterre, 38 m
Identified: incipient blight, west bay
Pulled: 4 plants, suspected fungal
Logged: revisit 30 April

Of camas blue,
and the first swarm.

The camas opened in three days, in three colours; the Whitfords say they have never seen so many. We will not mow until 14 July, by the calendar agreed in 2024.

While we were on the south slope counting plant per square metre (114, which is more than I have ever recorded on the meadow), the bees in the Whitfords' top-bar hive swarmed onto an old apple branch about thirty feet up. We are not beekeepers, but Maeve Whitford runs the hives and was home by mid-afternoon to catch them.

Plant counts: 114 / sqm overall; 8 species of grass; 19 species of forb in flower today. A full sweep with the quadrat planned for the 16th.

Actions taken

Counted: 114 plants / sqm avg.
Inventoried: 8 grasses, 19 forbs
Flagged: 2 sqm trial plot, north dome
Helped: catch swarm with M. Whitford

Of tomatoes,
and the summer cover.

Tomatoes out of the cold-frame at last; eighteen plants, six varieties, six stakes each, with the dwarf basil planted between every two.

This is the third year of running tomatoes on the south wall here, and the third year of moving them right by one yard. The Falls family rotate by the diary I keep for them and we have not had blight in the bed since 2022. The dwarf basil is partly culinary, partly for the bed: I have not yet decided which part is the larger.

Sweetpeas in: two rows along the bamboo wigwams; six varieties from the same Sarah Raven catalogue we use for them every spring. Children of the house planted them, with three of the four pulled out and replanted by us once they were home from school.

Actions taken

Out: 18× Solanum lyc. · 6 var.
Companion: 14× Ocimum minimum
Sowed: 2 rows sweetpea, 6 var.
Reset: 3 dislodged seedlings, with diplomacy

— § III · Working calendar —

The year, by month.

When we sow, when we plant out, and when we harvest. A working chart for the Hudson Valley (zone 6a) gardens we keep.

Plant

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

Broad beansVicia faba

PeasPisum sativum

TomatoesSolanum lyc.

GarlicAllium sativum

AsparagusA. officinalis

Roses · pruneRosa spp.

Boxwood · cutB. sempervirens

Lawn · cutFestuca / Lolium

Bulbs · orderNarcissus, Tulipa

Meadow · cutMixed sward

Sow under cover

Plant out · maintain

Cut / harvest

— § IV · What we offer —

Three kinds of care.

We work to three sorts of contract. We have no membership; either we keep your garden, or we do not.

▌ SVC · 01 ▌

The year-round
contract.

The garden under our hands forty-six weeks a year. Two visits a week through the season, one a fortnight in winter. The diary you read on this page is kept for you.

Spring & autumn planting
Weekly mowing
Fortnightly weeding & pruning
Bulb & bare-root ordering
Full annual diary by post

$2,200 / mo2-acre house

▌ SVC · 02 ▌

The seasonal
visit.

Four visits a year: each at the beginning of a season, with all the work of that season done over a two-to-three-day stay. A short report follows each visit.

Spring start (mid-March)
Midsummer (late June)
Autumn (early October)
Winter rest (December)
Written report after each visit

$3,800 / season0.5-2 acres

▌ SVC · 03 ▌

The new garden.

We make new gardens. A new garden is two seasons of design and three of establishment, and after that we expect to keep it for as many years as we live. We do not work on new gardens for one-off fees.

Site walk & soil report
Sketched plan (hand, ink)
Two-year establishment
Year-round care thereafter
Conditional on the right house

by enquirytwo-year minimum

— § V · A first walk —

If you would
like us to visit.

We answer every letter by hand. The first walk through the garden costs nothing and takes about two hours; from it we write a one-page note before any contract is offered.

We work nine gardens. Vacancies arise twice or three times a year; the waiting list at present runs four to seven months.

Yard

22 Astor CourtTivoli, NY 12583

Office hours

Mon – Sat8.00 – 17.00 (in season)

Telephone

+1 845 757 1184

Mail

letters@broom-briar.com

A closer look / Broom & Briar

A garden for every season.

Share the garden size, sunlight and the kind of care you need.

Plan a garden visit

A straightforward process

Clear expectations. Careful work.

Describe what you need

Share the location, the issue and any photographs or specifications that help explain the job.

Agree the scope

Review the proposed work, access requirements and estimate before the appointment is confirmed.

Know what comes next

Ask for a clear handover, care instructions and any follow-up that the work requires.

Good to know

A few things
you might ask.

What information helps with an estimate?

A short description, location, photographs and relevant model numbers or measurements help the team assess the work.

Is the online estimate a final quote?

An estimate is a starting point. The provider should confirm scope, materials, access and pricing before work is authorised.

How do I prepare for an appointment?

Confirm access, timing and any preparation with the team. Keep relevant documents and details of the issue available.

The next step

Plan a garden visit.

Share the garden size, sunlight and the kind of care you need.

Call +212 663 545 330 ↗WhatsApp RAIN DESIGN STUDIO ↗

The workingyear, in afield-notebook.

Four gardeners,nine gardens.

Of the first sowing,and the cold snap.

Of boxwood,and the hedge cut.

Of camas blue,and the first swarm.

Of tomatoes,and the summer cover.

The year-roundcontract.

The seasonalvisit.

The new garden.

— § V · A first walk —

If you wouldlike us to visit.

A garden for every season.

Clear expectations. Careful work.

Describe what you need

Agree the scope

Know what comes next

A few thingsyou might ask.

Plan a garden visit.

The working
year, in a
field-notebook.

Four gardeners,
nine gardens.

Of the first sowing,
and the cold snap.

Of boxwood,
and the hedge cut.

Of camas blue,
and the first swarm.

Of tomatoes,
and the summer cover.

The year-round
contract.

The seasonal
visit.

If you would
like us to visit.

A few things
you might ask.