The Kishwaukee runs low and clear through Cherry Valley in early spring, and the bottoms along it green up a good week before anything on higher ground does. ABC Lawncare follows that green uphill as the season opens, mowing, trimming close to beds and fences, edging where the turf meets the drive. Northern Illinois hands out a short season and spends it fast, so the schedule matters more here than it would a few hundred miles south. Done right, a lawn holds its shape the entire way through, from the first cut in a cold April to the last one in a yellow October. It is a good thing to drive past.