Out at Cochran Mill the hardwoods turn late and all at once, and Bear Creek runs loud over the rock ledges under a canopy going amber and rust. Reliable Southern Creations carries a little of that country back into the yards it keeps around Palmetto — beds that follow a natural curve, mulch dark against the clay, shrubs shaped rather than shorn. Mowing and edging hold the frame; the planting beds and the cleanup are where a place starts to look composed instead of merely cut. Fall is the honest season for it, when the leaves come down in earnest and clearing them is the difference between a yard that looks finished and one that looks abandoned. There is real pleasure in stepping back at the end of a day and seeing the whole thing hang together.