For maybe ten days at the end of September the valley turns all at once — aspen gold on the high slopes, cottonwoods going yellow down in the river bottom, and every bit of it coming loose on the same windy afternoon. Red leaf landscaping lives for that window: leaf and needle removal, the final mow, edges recut before the ground firms, beds cleared and the turf fed for the long cold ahead. The rest of the year those same Edwards lawns get weekly cutting, trimming and a spring cleanup once the snow pulls back off the grass. The best part is the before and after — a yard buried under color at eight in the morning, open and swept by three. Then the light goes low and amber over the ridge and it's time to load up.