Glorious Gardens

Spring is here, and two spectacular East End gardens that are open weekly to the general public are launching their seasons: the LongHouse Foundation in East Hampton and the Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack.

It's daffodil time at LongHouse, at 133 Hand's Creek Road. Jack Lenor Larsen's gardens will be open on Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. and again on May 10 from 2 to 5 p.m. so that visitors may walk around the garden's 16 acres to see innumerable bulbs in flower, outdoor sculpture, bearded and reblooming iris, and many specimen trees just coming into leaf or blossom.

LongHouse's gallery, with an exhibit of tapestries by Helena Hernmarck, will also be open on Sunday, from 4 to 6 p.m. On May 10, Brent Heath, a daffodil expert from Virginia, will lead tours of the garden.

As of this week, the gardens will be open every Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m. There is a suggested payment of $10 for nonmembers at the gate.

The Madoo Conservancy, the Sagg Main Street garden created by the artist Robert Dash over the past 30 years, will open for the season this weekend with new visiting hours: every Saturday through Sept. 27 from 1 to 5 p.m.

Within the two-acre gardens, more than 30 environments provide a kaleidoscope of colors, textures, and styles. New features this year include a watercourse connecting the first and second ponds, with miniature waterfalls. A new terrace will be laid out near the largest pond.

An 11-foot-high basket folly, backed by an excedra covered in violet clematis, is a feature at the end of the rose walk. There have been major new plantings of spring-flowering bulbs as well.

Garden admission is $10.

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead, Madoo will celebrate the season of rebirth with its annual $100 benefit brunch on June 15 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The garden designers and authors Joseph Eck and Wayne Winterrowd will be guests of honor.

For three days in August, beginning on the 11th, the Madoo Conservancy will sponsor its first horticultural institute, featuring not only noted East End landscape designers and gardeners but also the famous British garden designer Penelope Hobhouse as special guest speaker. Ms. Hobhouse recently won the Victoria Medal of Honor from the Royal Horticultural Society.

Mr. Dash, who used to write for The Star some years ago, has resumed his biweekly column as of today. It starts on the first page of this section.