My life as a landscaper began in the greenhouses that my parents owned at 18 Victoria street in Stratford. I used to help my mom pick out the seedlings to be transplanted into the boxes that would in two months time be sold as annuals. I was two years old at the time.

My Grandfather Jesse Wainwright, whom everyone called Ted, Came to Stratford in 1940 to buy the old Guthrie Greenhouses here. He quickly changed the name to Wainwright Greenhouses. Before moving here he had worked first at the Dale Estate in Brampton where my mother was born and sometime later for Connon Nurseries of Waterdown.

Ted ran the greenhouses here until his retirement in 1952 after which he devoted his time to running the scales at the old Farmer's Market behind where the Firehall on Albert was. My parents assumed ownership of the business in 1952 and opened a flower shop at the corner of  Downie and George Street in Stratford and later moved it to 28 Erie Street the home of the first Bank of Montreal in the city. Our fridge in the store had been the original vault of the bank.

 My mom passed away in 1981 from cancer, but I had started my own business in 1977 called Tom's Gardening.

I started out small just working evenings and weekends while serving full time as the grounds maintenance man for Pounder Brothers, who had many properties around town. In 1979 however I was getting married to my sweetheart so decided to go at the business full time. Eventually our business developed into full time employment for myself and two others as well as part time employment for two more. We specialized in grounds maintenance with some landscape installation.

In 2005 I became aware that my main supplier Eldon Landscaping was for sale. We began negotiations and in 2006 formed a new company called Tom's Eldon Landscaping. Today we have a garden centre where we grow many of our own plants.  We have four landscape crews and One lawn care crew. In peak season we have 17 employees.  Besides the Garden Centre which has branched out into all sorts of seeds and feeds our landscape crews concentrate on everything from installation to maintenance of all sorts of Landscapes. 

Tom Stott

.

Meet Our Staff :

Tom Stott is the owner and operator of Tom's Eldon Landscaping.  He has over five decades of experience in the business that he grew up in.  Along with running the company, Tom creates all of the company's landscape designs with the exception of the "happenings".  Tom is also the mastermind behind all of our now famous catchy phrases that appear on the sign on our front lawn.

Brenda Lowe has spent two decades in the landscaping industry.  A graduate of Sir Sandford Fleming School of Natural Resources in Lindsay Ontario, she earned her Technician's Diploma in Environmental Pest Management. Brenda has a license to spray!  Brenda was the Forman of Tom's Gardening's lawn care crew for years before becoming the Assistant Manager of this department under Tom's Eldon Landscaping.  Currently, Brenda is also Assistant Manager of the store and the nursery.

Rebecca Stott-Savage is the daughter of Pat and Tom Stott. She grew up in the family business and worked for Tom's Gardening for five years in the office, on the lawn care crew and on a landscaping crew before graduating from Carleton  University with a Bachelor of Arts  in French. Rebecca is fully bilingual in both French and English. She previously worked for three years as a Bilingual Customer Service and Inside Sales Representative for an Equestrian company in Stratford. Prior to that she worked for the maker's  of Cold-Fx out of Toronto as a Marketing Assistant. She was also an Au Pair for three little boys in the South of France. Rebecca loves to travel with her husband of one year, Mike.   She is now full time at the Garden Centre and Assistant Manager of the Pet Supplies.           

Pat Stott and Tom have been married for 31 years. When Pat's not working at the Garden Centre you can find her working in her   gardens, planning her next travel adventure or offering a lending hand and a listening ear to those who have touched her heart with their stories of trips to the Regional Cancer Centre in London, something of which she has much experience with. Pat has a zest for life and loves to hear stories of adventures from anyone she meets .     

George Eckert has over 13 years experience in the Lawn Care Business. He is part of the dynamic duo that makes up our Lawn Care Crew. When he isn't seen crawling around looking for insects on your lawns, George can be found fertilizing, aerating, over-seeding and grass cutting.

Phillip Rea has over 17 years experience in the Lawn Care Business.  Phil is also on the Lawn Care Crew. Along with George, he treats and maintains our customer's lawns.

We have five full-time landscapers with a combined 93 years experience, all of whom are too modest to post anything here.

Return to Home Page