Late April on the ridges above the Illinois River, the oaks are still deciding and the grass has already made up its mind. Country Tree & Lawn Care LLC takes on that first rush across Medina Township with mowing, trimming, edging and the spring cleanup that hauls a winter's worth of sticks and matted leaves off a yard. Properties here run from flat tableland to lots that fall away into wooded ravines, and each one asks for a different line to be walked. The reward arrives at the end of a pass: a clean border between lawn and timber, the smell of cut grass rolling downhill toward the valley. Through summer the routine holds, week on week, until the color turns and the leaves come down for the last cleanup of the year.