Nelson grew up on marble; the white stone under these foothills went out by rail to buildings all over the country, and you still find it in a doorstep or a low wall in front of an ordinary house. Yards here climb and dip with the land between Long Swamp Creek and the ridges toward Jasper, so every mow is part navigation. Late winter is the reset — cutting back what died down, clearing leaves that blew in and stayed, opening the beds up before the first green shows. Then the season starts in earnest and holds until the foothills go gold. Keeping a yard in Pickens County means working around a slope and a stone ledge and finishing with lines that look effortless anyway.