Maybe some of this sounds familiar: Spring makes an extra-early start, in a month that not so many years ago felt more like it was part of winter. Then, when the calendar says spring is barely over, summer arrives as a heat dome — and without the much-needed soaking rain.

Just as early April masqueraded as May, June impersonated August. And all bets were off.

To expect the unexpected may be the best advice for gardeners facing unfamiliar weather patterns driven by a changing climate. But how do we do that?

Things are shifting, and the gardener’s focus must shift along with them, especially when caring for woody plants, said Daniel Weitoish, the arboriculture supervisor at Cornell Botanic Gardens, in Ithaca, N.Y. Our updated job description is likely to require anticipation and triage, not simply scheduled maintenance.

“Rather than just looking at a calendar and saying, ‘It’s July 15, time to do X or Y,’” he said, we have to be “a caretaker, watching and reacting to what signs the plants are showing.”

Things are no longer happening in the order we’re used to, so we have to tune in for clues, and get to know the garden in this new world order.