Garden

Winter of 2026 was rough on the gardens at the Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack. Wet, heavy snow snapped branches and flattened stalks. But at ground level, unseen life was proceeding as it always does. “Gardens are supposed to do that. Now there is a little more sky,” Alejandro Saralegui, the garden’s executive director, said.

Spring and summer 2026 promise many moments rich with beauty in the garden, the oasis to which we escape, seeking solace, wonder, and peace. Here, our editor’s choice of garden-related events for the season ahead — from the edifying and educational to the purely pleasurable.

The most fragrant of blooms greet in scent before their mood-boosting color says good morning once you open your eyes. My favorite bedside fragrances include hyacinth in April, lilac in May, and peonies in early June.

It’s officially spring and all around East Hampton Village, there are signs of change: buds ready to burst at the Nature Trail, peepers serenading whoever’s listening, weather that won’t make up its mind . . . and a big pile of earth on the grounds of the Ladies Village Improvement Society’s headquarters, the historical Gardiner Brown House on Main Street.

What do you wake up to each morning? A lover, a child, a pet — perhaps all of the above? Or maybe, like me, you wake up not only to a quietness, but also to the presence of flowers placed near your pillow. The most fragrant of blooms greet in scent before their mood-boosting color says good morning once you open your eyes.