Cherry Valley still keeps its village bones — the old street grid, the bridge over the Kishwaukee, the water running fast and brown in April. Cherry Valley Landscape Center works this corner of Winnebago County and greater Rockford, mowing, trimming and edging through the green months, running the spring and fall cleanups, then plowing and salting drives and lots in winter. Growth comes early on the river bottoms and lingers late, so the mowing calendar stretches at both ends. Looking back down a street of finished lawns on a Friday afternoon is a good way to end a week. Come January that same street gets measured in cleared pavement instead.