Late August in the Jonesboro country smells like cut grass and ripening orchard, and the heat sits in the bottoms until the sun drops behind the ridge. Sargent lawn and landscaping Inc is out in it — mowing, trimming and edging, keeping yards from going coarse in the last long stretch before fall. Ground here changes fast, from creek-bottom flats to slopes that need a careful line, and a good crew learns each property's grain the way you learn a road. Done right, the yard cools off in the evening looking level and even, the beds crisp at the border, the driveway swept clean of clippings. It is steady work for a place that stays green longer than most of Illinois, and it carries all the way to the fall cleanups.