Palo Alto takes its name from one tall redwood, El Palo Alto, which still stands on the bank of San Francisquito Creek — a town, in other words, that began with a tree as its landmark. Hortus Design Sustainable Landscapes works that same ground as a landscape design and lawn care business, shaping Palo Alto yards from the first sketch to the mowing that keeps them sharp. In March, with winter rain soaked deep into the ground and the creek running loud, lawns come up thick and fast, and holding them even is half the fun. The results live in small details: a border cut clean along a front walk, a planting plan that finally suits the dappled light beneath an oak. Hortus is the Latin word for garden, and here it reads like a promise kept one yard at a time.