Tryon sits in the thermal belt, where the cold slides down the mountainside and pools below the town, leaving the upper slopes a few degrees kinder than the valley floor. Down to Earth Garden Center works those slopes as a lawn care business, mowing, trimming and hauling off whatever the season drops. October brings long amber light across the ridges and more leaves than any yard knows what to do with, and that is the good part: a lawn buried on Friday, green and open again by afternoon. Grass that has crept over a drive gets cut back to where it belongs, and the clippings leave with the crew instead of sitting on the walk. Tryon, Lynn, Mill Spring and Columbus make up the week.