Rectangular Callout: 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 three 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. He bought the old Guthrie Greenhouses here and quickly changed the name to Wainwright Greenhouses. Prior to his move to Stratford, Ted had first worked at the Dale Estate in Brampton where my mother was born, and some time later for Connon Nurseries in Waterdown. Ted ran the Wainwright Greenhouses until his retirement in 1952 after which he devoted his time to running the scales at the old Farmer’s Market (behind the old Firehall on Albert Street). My parents, George & Lily Stott, assumed ownership of the business in 1952 and opened a flower shop at the corner of Downie and George Street in Stratford. The shop later moved to 28 Erie Street, which was previously the first Bank of Montreal in the city. We used the original bank vault as our fridge at the store.

Circa 1976

Circa 1979

Circa 1995

Circa 1916

Rectangular Callout: I started my own business in 1977 called Tom’s Gardening. My mom, Lily Stott nee Wainwright, passed away from cancer in 1981. My business started out small. I only worked evenings and weekends while serving full time as the Ground Maintenance Man for Pounder Brothers in Stratford. In 1979, I married my sweetheart and decided to go at my landscaping business full time. Eventually our business developed into full time employment for myself and two others . We also had two part time employees. 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 maintenance to all sorts of landscape installation. Tom Stott President & CEO

 

Circa 2010

 

 

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