Petal Pushers owners to sell business, see the world

LACONIA — Being raised on a dairy farm, and keeping animals for much of his life even when he wasn’t a farmer by vocation, Pat Gianunzio, was never able to leave home for too long. Until last year, that is, when he and his wife, Patty, decided to leave Laconia for the winter and drive across the country.

Pat, who will turn 70 soon, hadn’t ever traveled outside of New England, save for a few weeks in Florida over the years.

“It opened my eyes,” he said. Pat, who started working on the family farm at the age of 13, is ready to put his working days behind him. He and Patty have put their home on the market, as well as the landmark garden center, Petal Pushers Farm, that he started and they have grown together, so that they can enjoy their golden years.

Pat grew up in Whitman, Massachusetts, came to the Lakes Region as a young man when he was hired to manage the Weeks Restaurants in Laconia and Concord. He then opened the South End Market, which is now South End Pizza and Seafood, on South Main Street in Laconia.

“I ran that for six years, I couldn’t stand being inside anymore,” he said. So he got into landscaping, started a company that maintained the grounds of condominium developments. He was living on Parade Road, right across from a large, 18th Century home that was owned at the time by Lyman Rice, a prominent contractor. When Rice had to spend some time in the hospital, Pat took care of the grounds for him. And when Rice later died, nearly 30 years ago, Pat purchased the property.

He had been landscaping for some time, and he was starting to understand that he didn’t want to be operating lawn mowers and weed whackers every day for the rest of his working life.

“I had it in my mind that I wasn’t going to be doing that forever. I thought a gardening business would be so easy,” he said. Petal Pushers opened in 1995.

But he kept up the landscaping business, and offered snowplowing, too. It got busy, and he decided he needed to hire someone to manage Petal Pushers. Patty answered the ad.

She had many things in common with Pat. Patty, who grew up in Meredith, loved to be outside and started raking leaves for money when she was 12. As an adult, she also ran her own landscaping and lawn maintenance business.

Petal Pushers thrived under Pat and Patty. It has since grown to include six greenhouses, which are filled with plants each spring, and became known for its Fall Festivals, which, until they were discontinued because they grew too large, brought as many as 4,000 people to the business.

Pat has pruned his operation in recent years. He no longer plows or mows, he and Patty just have their garden center, which they hope to sell this winter. It will give them more time to play golf, and to do some more touring.

“We would like to get our motorcycles out of the barn, dust them off and go for a ride or two,” she said.

But if it doesn’t sell, they will again be found at Petal Pushers this spring. “We want to be sure that it’s business as usual,” Patty said, adding, “We’ve had some great customers, we really appreciate (them).”

“If someone does purchase it, I hope they’ll keep the same tradition,” Pat said. He would like to see the business grow further, but knows he’s no longer the person to do it. “I have so many ideas, the expansion of this place. I just can’t do it. But the possibilities here are endless.”