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Late Snow, Rain, Hamper NE Landscapers05-21-07 | News

Late Snow, Rain, Hamper NE Landscapers




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Snow in Buffalo, N.Y. can add up to extra work for contractors in the form of snow and tree removal. This spring, snow and rain across the northeast have tended to overwhelm landscapers.


Landscape professionals across the Northeast are being forced to clean up from spring storms before they can start the planting seasons. Some are overwhelmed ?EUR??,,????'??+ although firms without tree-removal service have missed out on work.

Normally, the region?EUR??,,????'???s landscaping can begin as early as March, though it typically starts in April. But April’s weather, first with the snow and then the rain, made planting impossible and wreaked havoc on many trees and yards.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Russ Warwick of Warwick Landscaping and Pressure Washing of Dover, Del. as he worked to move mounds of branches and debris from a home in mid-May.

“The late heavy snow after the thaw is what killed them,” he said. “It’s been non-stop trees, non-stop.”

Warwick said he usually spends May planting but instead has been inundated with tree removal jobs, more than 30 so far.

“I’m really, really busy and I’ve got a lot of jobs backed up on me,” he said.

Some Companies Lack Work

Meanwhile, landscapers that don’t offer tree removal service have been hurt by a lack of work in April, said Diane Perkins, president of the New Hampshire Landscape Association and owner of Fertile Ground in Exeter. The weather meant three weeks of prime planting time was shut down.

The unusual weather also led to a drastically shortened blooming time for flowers, Perkins said. April’s cold weather pushed many early bloomers back while other later bloomers kept on schedule.

The changing schedules, both in work and blooming, can make customers think twice about getting landscape work done, Perkins said.

“I think patience is a really big word,” she said. “You do have to be patient.”

Sources: AP, New Hampshire Union Leader

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