the journal

seasonal musings from city, studio & garden


Briar Winters Briar Winters

a summer notebook

The quiet days of summer have arrived. A certain stillness drapes across the city on the weekends. Thunderstorms bluster through. Soaking rain, searing heat, fireflies…

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Briar Winters Briar Winters

late august in the studio + in the garden

A shift is in the air. Shorter evenings catch me by surprise. The studio fills with freshly harvested botanicals and bustles with activity as we prepare for the cooler months ahead.

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Briar Winters Briar Winters

early august in the garden

A particularly beautiful moment in the native plant beds these past few weeks. Delicate shades of pinks and purples before the golden blaze of the late summer goldenrods and sneezeweeds.

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Briar Winters Briar Winters

summer tea, three ways

We’re having a very hot week here in NYC, so I wanted to share some of my favorite ways to enjoy our teas in the summer without steaming up the kitchen!

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Briar Winters Briar Winters

june in the studio

June has arrived in the city like an unruly rose clambering over a chain link fence. Stormy and sunny, both.

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Briar Winters Briar Winters

roses of the lower east side

Just a few of the many roses in the neighborhood, in a collection of photos from over the years, to celebrate the season. All this beauty somehow clambering over fences and thriving in once-vacant lots.

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Briar Briar

a popsicle recipe from the archives

It seemed like a good moment to bring this recipe back from one of the past editions of my newsletter, given the sweltering temperatures in the city this last week.

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Briar Briar

where summer and autumn meet

This is one of my favorite moments in the year in the world of Northeast native plants, and I never let it pass without a trip to one of the native plant gardens near us…

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