Gardeners, landscapers find little respite from rain

This sodden spring -- which has dashed so many weekend plans and dampened as many moods -- is also taking its toll on Massachusetts businesses that rely on outdoor enthusiasm.

Retail garden center owners estimate that business is down as much as 15 to 30 percent from the average year. Not only are lay gardeners disinclined to spend soggy Saturdays digging mud gardens, but impulse shoppers who visit nurseries are being turned off by the dearth of blooms.

Persistent rains pelted the petals right off of trees like weeping cherries, which flowered for just a few days, and stifled the blooms on Kousa dogwoods. Poppies and peonies smiled openly, but only for a brief moment in the sun.

``Most garden centers are struggling to meet last year's numbers -- and last year, we were down," said Michelle Harvey , vice president of the Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association and the owner of garden centers in Lunenberg and Winchendon. ``Over an average year, like 2004, most of us could be anywhere from 30 to 40 percent down."

Nearly 12.5 inches of rain fell in Boston last month, the second-wettest May on record. The weather doused Mother's Day weekend -- traditionally garden centers' busiest weekend of the year -- devastating sales. And when the weather soured last week -- dumping nearly 3 inches on Boston, ushering in cool air, and promising yet more rain -- it appeared it could hurt the entire six-week planting season. That season, which runs from roughly the first week of May to the second week of June, usually delivers 60 to 70 percent of garden center sales, Harvey said.

Some nursery owners are also fretting that the weather will threaten the timing of the crops they sell at farm stands, which they use to diversify their business.

``In order to pick something in August, it needs to be planted now," said Dave Volante , the production manager at Volante Farms in Needham. ``We just got our peppers in the ground and now we're worried they may not make it."

But Kent Lage , assistant commissioner for the state Department of Agriculture, said some summer vegetable crops should be delayed, but not forsaken. ``Does that mean they're not going to get a crop? No, it just means the crop may be later than normally expected."

For some farmers, that will mean waiting for the ground to dry out and planting different varieties with shorter ripening times.

``The wet weather will give me a problem with my next plantings going in the ground, so it could throw off the timing a little bit," said Edward Davidian , who owns Davidian Brothers Farm and farmstand in Northborough. But he'll adjust by planting later and using different varieties that ripen faster, he said.

``We'll get through this. The weather is bad. It looks pretty bleak right now," Davidian said. ``But Mother Nature will take care of us. We'll look back and we'll talk about it just like we talk about the Blizzard of '78 and all the other stuff."

Nursery owners are not the only ones who are grumpy. Landscaping businesses and other outdoor contractors have had to postpone work and reshuffle employees.

``Everything we do is outdoors, and you can't do a lot in the rain," said Bruce Aleo , president of DoneRightLandscape.com. ``You can't do sod lawns. It turns to mud and floats to the top. You can't do construction because you can't compact the ground. You can't get a solid base. So that limits you to a very few things."

The company also builds fences, walls, walkways, patios, and driveways -- and can cut lawns when the rain ebbs to a drizzle. But with so many jobs postponed, it can be hard to find tasks to busy the company's 38 employees, most of whom are paid by the hour.

``If they don't work, they don't get paid," Aleo said. ``Everybody loses with the weather like this."

The winners may end up being the gardeners who postponed their work. Flowering shrubs that bloom early in the summer -- potentilla, spirea, and hydrangea -- should look beautiful after all the rain, and can easily be transferred to the wet ground, Harvey said.

``This is actually fantastic planting weather -- if you wanted to be out there right now," she said. ``They root in because the soil is cool. There's no transplant shock."

And many nurseries will be offering cut-rate prices as they try to unload all their surplus plants. ``There's a lot of product available, and the growers are discounting that," said Greg Aubin , general manager of Attleboro Farms on Route 1 in Attleboro. This weekend, he is cutting prices on perennials by 25 percent.

What looks good?

``Shade perennials are doing well," he said. ``Because we haven't had any sun."

Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com.