April in this part of Illinois announces itself in redbud — that improbable purple lighting up the timber edges south of town while the fields are still bare. Right about then the first cut of the year happens, and there is nothing quite like it: winter's mat of dull growth coming off, the yard waking up two shades brighter in a single afternoon. Scott's Lawn Care & Sales of Southern IL starts the season there and keeps the schedule through the long green months, mowing, trimming, and cutting the edge back to a true line. Late in the year the same properties get raked out and cleared down. One season handed carefully to the next, over and over.