Newington sits on sandy Screven County ground where the longleaf still stands in rows and the Ogeechee runs blackwater-slow a few miles off. Winter is short and mostly mild here, a handful of frosts that brown the lawns and a long stretch of gray, easy days in between — good weather for the work that keeps until January. That is the cleanup season: leaves hauled out of the beds, dead growth cut back, walks edged after a summer of softening, so March finds everything ready. Then the mowing starts again and does not quit until October. Between the two there is a whole year of yards kept in order, one visit at a time.