March in Cook County arrives as a yellow haze — pine pollen on the windshields, on the porch rails, on every parked thing in Adel. It also arrives as the first real growth of the year, when the lawns come out of dormancy all at once and need a hand to shape them. Alpha landscapes meets that turn with mowing, trimming, edging and a spring cleanup that clears winter's litter out of the beds and off the walks. A first cut of the season is a small ceremony: the color deepens, the lines come back, the yard remembers what it is. From there it is a matter of keeping the appointment week after week until the heat finally lets go in the fall.