Out where the shelterbelt trees lean permanently east, planted a lifetime ago by people who knew exactly which way the wind comes, October turns the yards around Keenesburg gold and brittle almost overnight. Pears to Perennials keeps those yards through the whole arc of the year — mowing and trimming while the grass is still running, tidying beds and borders, then raking the season down to clean ground before the ice arrives. Gardening on this stretch of plain rewards patience and a little obstinacy; anything that comes through a Weld County February has earned a neatly edged place to stand. The pleasure is in the transitions: the last cut, the beds squared away, everything arranged so that spring has an easy time of it. Come April, the same yard wakes up ready.