August in Roanoke can go two weeks without rain, and the lawns show it first along the walks, where heat comes back up off the concrete. Roanoke Water Department mows through that stretch with the deck raised, taking less off so the grass can hold what shade it has over its own roots. Trimming and edging still happen every visit, because a crisp border reads green even when the middle is tired. Clippings are left where they will do some good and cleared from where they will not. When rain finally arrives, those lawns come back fast, having never been cut down to nothing.