April 15, 2011
For the past three years Tim Kearney has sacrificed time and energy to lead volunteers building the LO garden at Canada Blooms. Each year, the garden was even more grand than the year before. For Tim it began as an opportunity to show the public what amazing work LO members can render. We’ll let Tim explain:

By Tim Kearney CLP

This is why dozens of people would spend 18-hour days of their own time to benefit us all, and then return after four hours’ sleep to do it all over again.

Because they care. This is why our members from across the province came together to create one impressive garden. Three years ago it echoed loud and clear, “We are concerned that we have no presence!”

Because they care. This is why companies both large and small understood that without everyone chipping in, we could not provide the public with the best impression.  

Because they care. This is why I am so impressed by the knowledge of our members and their leadership skills. Do the people who do this day-in and day-out get the respect they deserve? Or, is it taken for granted?

So I come to you to say we went to the end of our capabilities, and without this talented, dedicated group we could not have achieved what some said was the best yet.  
Complex, cutting-edge designs demand this. Our industry deserves this. The public loves this.

I stood at the entrance on opening day to observe the reaction of people as they entered the hall for the first time. Some called it shock and awe. You bet it was.

These people are our heroes. They are one- and two-person companies. They are 30-plus person companies. They are the St. Clair College kids who must have thought that they were thrown to the lions when chaos had settled in. They are people who came from four hours away and stayed the whole time: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and then back on the following Sunday until the wee hours of the morning...because they care.

Always a smile, always a hug, yes a few tears, and the odd high five… they cared. You could see it at the preview party on opening night. It expressed a high level of pride and caring.  

They say that when all else around you seems hopeless, “Go into the garden and it will heal you.” A little bit of us cried when we saw the devastation in Japan. In an instant they said they cared.

A community for mutual benefit and improvement has been used to describe our association. I dare you not to add a “caring” community for mutual benefit and improvement.  

Because they care. We must not take them for granted. But like so many before us, more will come...because they care.  

George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “Gardening is the only unquestionably useful job.”

On behalf of our community, I extend our sincere thanks to all our heroes.