Fifty Shades of Green

About Fifty Shades of Green

Down in the Socorro bottomland the greens really do arrive in layers: alfalfa dark after a cutting, pecan groves a dusty jade, lawns lit almost yellow at noon. Fifty Shades of Green works among them with mowing, edging, trimming, weeding, bed maintenance and hauling, reading each yard for the shade it gets and the water it drinks. Late spring is the turn, when dormant tan lets go and everything comes back at once. By August, after the summer rains, the whole valley smells like wet creosote and cut grass. A lawn mowed even and edged clean is a small pleasure that lasts a full week.