Buford sits on the hills above Lake Lanier, red-brick storefronts on Main Street and water flashing between the pines at the end of half the roads out of town. Southeast Gardens mows and edges the yards on those slopes, where a lawn can run from full sun at the street to deep shade at the back fence in fifty feet. Summer here is humid and green and quick; the mower keeps the pace, the trimmer catches retaining walls and mailbox posts, the drive gets put back the way it should look. Cool air slides down off the lake early in the fall, and cleanup work starts while everyone else is still in shorts. A squared-off yard on a Buford hill can be read from a long way off.