In Franconia the light comes late and leaves early — Lafayette and Cannon hold the sun off the valley floor until the Gale River is already bright. Regenerative Gardenworks tends lawns through that short, generous northern summer, mowing the dooryards along the Ham Branch and the terraces that look up into the Notch. Grass grown at this elevation asks for patience: a higher cut, a true edge, a raking-out in spring when the road sand comes off, and a clearing in fall when the birches let go. The reward is a green that holds right through August with a mountain wall behind it. It is a good place to make things grow, and good work to be doing here.