Along the Poudre near Watson Lake the cottonwoods leaf out late and then all at once, and just like that it is mowing season in Laporte. Fuller Landscaping works the long green stretch that follows — regular mowing, string trimming, edging along walks and beds, and the steady grooming that keeps a yard looking looked-after through a dry Front Range summer. Most July afternoons the thunderheads pile up over the foothills by two o'clock, and there's a real art to reading them and getting the cut in ahead of the rain. Grass earns its color in this valley; it deserves to be cut clean rather than torn. A finished yard on a gold evening, the trim line sharp along the drive, is the reason for the whole day.