Landscape Ontario

Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association

Type	Association
Industry	Horticulture
Founded	Toronto, Ontario (1973)
Headquarters	Halton Hills, Ontario
Website	landscapeontario.com

Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association was founded in 1973 by combining three separate horticultural associations into one. The original organizations were: Ontario Garden Maintenance and Landscape Association, Ontario Landscape Contractors Association and Ontario Nurseryman's Association.

Landscape Ontario now serves 10 related sectors of horticulture and has more than 2,000 member companies to which it offers professional development opportunities, industry trade shows and conferences, advocacy, government relations, networking opportunities, standard setting, consumer events and cost saving benefits. Through the efforts of members, volunteers and staff, Landscape Ontario provides a unified voice for the horticulture industry in Ontario.^[1]

Mission statement

Our mission is to be the leader in representing, promoting and fostering a favourable climate for the advancement of the horticulture industry in Ontario.

Organization

The association is governed by an elected Provincial Board of Directors, which volunteers its time and effort to oversee the many programs and functions of the association.

Chapters

Landscape Ontario's membership is organized by a chapter system. The opportunity to network is one of the founding principles of our association. There are currently nine LO chapters:

Durham
Georgian Lakelands
Golden Horseshoe
London
Ottawa
Toronto
Upper Canada
Waterloo
Windsor

The chapters hold regular meetings that provide a forum for education, professional development and networking.

Sector Groups

Landscape Ontario's 10 commodity groups address the specific needs of the various industry sectors. These groups meet regularly to look at sector-specific issues and initiate solutions. They include:

Designers
Garden Centres
Grounds Management
Growers
Landscape Contractors
Lawn Care
Interiorscape
Irrigation
Lighting
Snow and Ice

Trade Shows

To bring the equipment vendors together with the membership base Landscape Ontario started its January trade show Congress in 1973. The show is now in the top five horticultural shows in North America with over 8 acres (32,000 m²) of exhibits plus 12,500 trade visitors.

In 2003 a secondary fall buying show was created called Garden Expo. Over the years this show has merged with other like minded shows like the National Hardware Show and continually partners up with Flowers Canada which changed the shows name to Garden and Floral Expo. To alleviate confusion, the show is now known as Landscape Ontario's Expo.

Consumer Shows

Landscape Ontario's main consumer presence can be found annually at Canada Blooms. Founded by Landscape Ontario and the Garden Club of Toronto in 1996 this annual show announces the coming of Spring to the city of Toronto. Visitors from all over the province come to visit the gardens built indoors with plants forced over the winter to bloom on time for the show.^[2]