Bring on the snow

“We live near Charleston, South Carolina. The extreme wet weather we have experienced will keep us busy all winter and through the spring,” said one landscaper. “We are seeing fungus in our grasses that we don't normally see until spring. Plus, we have been healing yards where there has been standing water and/or salt intrusion due to oversaturated ground.”

 

A small landscaper in Detroit said she thought the season was over and treated the end of the year as she usually did, not expecting the warm weather.

 

“I feel bad; I laid everyone off,” she said. Because of this, she wasn’t able to pick up any jobs in December when customers called, because she was the only one still on staff.

 

A landscaper from Ashland, Ohio, agreed. The day after Thanksgiving, he started breaking down and rebuilding his dozer, making it unusable when customers called. He didn’t finish it until the first week of January.

 

“I’m kicking myself,” he said. “But at least now it’s ready for spring.”

 

The unusual weather wasn’t all bad for landscape companies. A contractor in Granville, Ohio, said the extended warm weather allowed them to get to all their fall tasks done before the snow hit the day prior.

 

“Last year we didn’t get to a lot of fall cleanups and fall prunings, but this year we were able to,” she said. “We were spoiled. Yesterday was a wakeup call for us.”

 

January is now over, but landscapers have February’s weather to look forward to and prepare for.