In late May, when the fog finally pulls back off the Thimble Islands and the light returns long and green over Branford's salt marshes, the mowers start early. The Greenscaping Company keeps lawns on a weekly rhythm here — cutting, then edging and trimming until every border reads sharp — with fertilization and weed control worked in, and aeration and overseeding opened into tired soil so it can drink again. Come October, the same yards below the trap-rock ridges are cleared of their leaves, the hedges and small trees pruned back into shape, the beds mulched and squared off dark against the grass. It is plain, physical work, and the reward is visible from the sidewalk: a lawn that holds its season, block after block, from the pink granite of Stony Creek to the streets that bend down toward the Branford River.