“What do you see when you look at a tree on your property? What do you think about?” This is Bill Miller speaking from his Water Mill office. A slight man with deepset eyes and a squirrely pony tail, Miller is an arborist, one of our very best. His talent is overshadowed only by his humility: he has no web page and does not advertise, and in conversation he is not given to self-promotion.

It’s time to savor the warm weather and glorious sunsets of summertime on the East End. After the seemingly endless bitter cold and snow we endured here this past winter, it’s time to unleash our inner beach bum. One way to make the most of summer this year, even when you’re not at the beach, is to create your own little tropical paradise at home.

In summer on the East End we revel in color, from the sea and sand, of course, and from the flowers that fill gardens everywhere. A big flower garden can be a lot of work, but you can get a lot of dazzle for not a lot of work with two classic summer flowers that you can plant in spring and enjoy in summer.

Winter is the perfect time to assess your home landscape to see if you are happy with the way it looks and functions, or if there is room for improvement. Planning now for changes or additions you want to make in spring puts you ahead of the game. You can consult with landscape and design professionals to zero in on changes you want to make, then get your project into their schedule before the spring rush hits.

Evergreens bring color and form to the winter landscape when flowers are gone and other trees are bare and gray. Evergreens, as their name implies, stay green all year around. And they’re not just green. They come in vivid bright greens, deep forest greens, soft blue-greens, even bright gold. There are blue-toned varieties of Atlas cedar, spruce, false cypress, Leyland cypress and juniper. For golds look into Japanese holly, junipers, Leyland cypress, false cypress and Scotch pine. Some evergreens take on ruddy or bronze tones in winter.

The glorious days of autumn are upon us; summer heat and crowds are giving way to soft golden light and the celebration of the harvest season in farms and vineyards. For those of us lucky enough to be here in fall, there’s still plenty of color to be had in the landscape. Here are some great sources of color for fall landscapes.

What have Hamptonites got in common with farmers in Panama? The bad news: We’re both destroying our land and its biodiversity. Not to mention lacing our precious environment and ourselves with harmful chemicals. The good news: East Hampton’s celebrated gardener Edwina von Gal is helping both to get out of the dark ages of chemical dependency and show us how to grow our crops and lawns toxin-free.

Ornamental grasses are about as close to care-free as garden plants get. They’re terrific additions to East End landscapes for a number of reasons. And late summer and autumn is their time to shine.

Have you ever wondered what makes some homes look so special? In a neighborhood of houses, some stand out from the crowd. It doesn’t always have to do with size or location. Some properties just look pulled together — the house and grounds unite into a seamless whole.