By September the hills above the Mohawk start turning at the top first, while the valley below stays green a while longer, holding summer down where the river is. Valley roots landscaping tends lawns across German Flatts through both halves of that — mowing and trimming while the grass still runs, edging the lines back sharp, then clearing the yards out as the leaves come down. A property raked clean in late fall has a particular stillness to it, everything put away and waiting. It is a good way to close one season and a good way to begin the next. Work is taken in German Flatts, Mohawk, Ilion, Herkimer and the surrounding towns.