The Shepaug runs cold and quick through Washington Depot, and the town keeps that river's temperament — shaded, green, a little steep, fast to change its mind. Grounds care here is mostly a matter of reading shade: turf under hemlock and sugar maple wants a different height and a different cadence than a lawn out in the open up toward the Green. The work runs to mowing and trimming on a set schedule, edging beds and walkways, mulching around plantings, and the spring and fall cleanups every wooded property demands. Yards in Washington are largely borrowed from the forest, and keeping one well-tended without making it look imported is the art of the thing. When afternoon light drops through the canopy onto an even, cared-for lawn, the case makes itself.