Spring reaches Sterling along the river first — the ground down by Sinnissippi Park greens up while the open fields are still brown. Four Seasons Landscaping starts its lawn work about then: the first cut of the year, edges reopened, the winter's litter raked out of the corners. A yard's first mowing sets the tone for everything after it, and there is a quiet pleasure in watching a lawn go from ragged to intentional in a single afternoon. Through summer it becomes mowing, trimming and keeping the lines honest week after week. By autumn the leaves come down and the work turns to clearing them off before the grass smothers beneath them.