Spring comes up out of the Des Plaines first, mist standing in the low ground while the lawns above it are still more brown than green. Arias Property Preservation reads that turn and opens the season with cleanups: winter litter raked out of the beds, matted leaves lifted off the crowns, edges cut back to a clean line along walk and drive. Mowing follows once the ground firms, on a schedule the grass sets rather than the calendar. There is a particular satisfaction in the first pass of the year across a Riverside yard, color coming up behind the machine like something switched on. By the time the village trees leaf out, the properties look tended and awake.