‘It’s always raining’: Wet weather causing some problems for outdoor businesses

Gardeners and landscapers are asking Mother Nature for a break as Winnipeg and Manitoba have been pelted by a lot of rain recently, leading to concerns on the business front.

Ray Dubois, the owner of Ron Paul Garden Centre said sales of annuals are down 10.8 per cent year-over-year.

“People just can’t get into their gardens and at some point they just decided to forget it, they’re not going to plant anymore,” said Dubois.

Given that we’re now weeks into the normal planting season, Dubois said he has a lot of inventory to move, which means slashing prices.

He has decided to discount flowers – selling them at a bit of a loss – rather than hang on to them and potentially have to throw them out later.

“I’d rather lose a little bit than (lose) a lot more.”

The rain is also causing problems for the landscaping businesses that plant the flowers and do other projects on lawns and backyards.

“It’s always raining or always wet,” said Paul Szakacs, the co-owner of 3 Season Landscaping. “So even on days where the sun is out…it’s still wet. It’s still wet from the day before, the day before that or the heavy rainfall on the weekend.”

Szakacs said he is constantly having to adjust his company’s schedule for jobs so they don’t damage property and they can access the areas they need to go.

“We’re not fortunate enough to be able to wait it out. It’s a short season in the landscaping business. It’s six months to get our work done. So we have to do something. We have to keep going”

To try and deal with the problem in the future, Dubois said he’s shifting his greenhouse production to produce fewer annuals and more vegetables.