Winter reaches Santa Cruz as rain off the Pacific, swelling the San Lorenzo River on its run past downtown and soaking the redwood slopes above town. Rodas Landscaping keeps yards and plantings in shape around town through those wet months and the vivid green weeks that follow. Grass grows fast here once the storms pass, and a well-timed mow and trim keep it from swallowing walkways and garden borders. A particular pleasure comes with a yard brought back to order after a week of downpours, its lines sharp again and the debris gone under a washed blue sky. In the neighborhoods along the river, that tidiness is a small celebration of the sun's return.