To make your backyard bird-friendly, you'll need to think like a bird when making landscaping decisions.

In the Northeastern United States, at least, these blossoms — whether red, pink, peach, yellow, white, or some combination of all — are at peak perfection starting in late May through June. As you stroll about, drive around town, or even take the train, here are some South Fork spots where you can find this favorite flower.

Rain gardens offer an opportunity to work with nature to restore balance, using the contours of the land to capture water that flows to lower elevations. The plants’ roots absorb rainwater and nitrogen runoff, while the soil filters particulates before they end up in our waterways. And rain gardens are also a way to ameliorate the dramatic loss of 3 billion birds in North America over the past 50 years.

Budbreak — when wine grapes’ winter buds open and begin to release their woolly leaves — has unfurled across the East End, perhaps inspiring people to dream of growing wine grapes of their own.

Where some see weeds, others, like Jill Musnicki of Sag Harbor, see "a hotbed of glorious biodiversity," to borrrow a phrase from The Guardian. Her front yard has been carefully cultivated into a pollinator garden with native plants undesirable to some but "a miracle" to bees, butterflies, birds, and all kinds of beneficial insects.

Perhaps making up for two years of lost time, the spring and summer of 2022 will be filled with marvelous workshops, lectures, and benefits here on the South Fork.

Who better to understand the power of collaborations between brands than two women with backgrounds in the fashion industry, which seems to rely on the constant merging of brands? With 100 Design Style, Nikki Butler and Brigitte Branconnier created an interior design company that seems to strike the perfect balance between layout, light, color, tactile materials, and a connection to nature.

Like helicopters and jets, leaf blowers have long been the bane of many a South Fork resident’s existence, each one a portable spewer of pollutants and source of ear-splitting noise. But in towns and villages alike, enough residents got angry and organized, and governments listened. Today, the use of leaf blowers is restricted across the South Fork.

Scott Bluedorn, an artist and activist living in Sag Harbor, is also an aficionado of vermiculture — a contained composting system in which earthworms break down food scraps to quickly create a mineral-rich soil amendment.

The first May Day 5K Run and Walk will set off from Main Beach on Sunday at 9 a.m., rain or shine, and the good news for participants and spectators alike is that the weather is expected to be perfect for the occasion.

On the list of milestones that allow you, force you even, to reflect back on your life, moving is right up near the top. Efficient packing and smart planning can reduce the angst just a little bit.

Joseph Grippo of Montauk, who is facing a second-degree murder charge following the death of a former friend in June 2019, was held in contempt during a Monday appearance at Suffolk County Criminal Court, and ordered out of the courtroom and back to county jail after reportedly cursing multiple times at the judge.

What are pollinator gardens and why are so many people talking about them right now? The idea, according to the organizers of the Pollinator Pathway movement, is to manage backyards without pesticides and with native plantings so they can connect with parks and preserves, creating a sort of bird and insect “refuge corridor,” an "archipelago" of habitats.

The East Hampton Town Trustees are considering renaming their Captain William J. Rysam Scholarship Fund, which presents awards to high school graduating seniors each year, following the revelation that the scholarship’s namesake both owned and traded slaves.

News that the South Fork Wind farm’s developers planned to use a privately owned commercial-industrial property on Tan Bark Trail as a site for storing soil and treating groundwater sparked confusion this week among opponents of the project as to whether excavation to install the wind farm’s onshore transmission cable will cause the movement of hazardous perfluorinated chemicals, known as PFAS.

Rabbi Joshua Franklin of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons just returned from six days on the Polish-Ukrainian border with a delegation of American and Israeli rabbis where in addition to bringing supplies and providing hands-on aid, his main goals were to listen to the stories of refugees, offer them support, let them know that the world hasn’t abandoned them, and to ultimately bring the stories back home to the people of East Hampton.

The East Hampton Village Board approved a $6.8 million bond appropriation bill on Friday, with the bulk of the money — roughly $4.6 million — going to new fire trucks to replace an aging fleet, with some trucks approaching their 30th year.

Forgivable loans, income tax credits, and property tax exemptions are among the carrots that two bills introduced by Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. would dangle before property owners in an effort to encourage them to create accessory dwelling units to help ease the region's afforable housing crisis.

The East Hampton Town Trustees plan to make permanent the allowance of “hybrid” meetings, in which video conferencing would enable both in-person and remote participation of the board and its committees.

The East Hampton Town Board voted to amend the town code to create a pilot program for outdoor dining, a move that could permanently relax outdoor dining rules for restaurants.