Greenhouse:
Success Stories

Ontario Plants Propagation Limited

Ontario Plants provides greenhouse vegetable transplants for North America's greenhouse vegetable producers, and employs up to 140 people during their busy season. The use of the best technology and tools is an essential element and focus of Ontario Plants, contributing to their success in growing and providing the best plants possible. With 15 acres under glass and the capacity to produce almost 15,000,000 vegetable plants annually, and a 3 acre expansion underway, Ontario Plants is a booming business in Elgin County.

Ontario Plants and the City of Toronto's Green Lane Landfill will undergo a 10 MW landfill biogas facility that will supply heat to Ontario Plants' greenhouse operations and electricity to the grid under the OPA's FIT program. The landfill gas will be cleaned and compressed at the Green Lane Landfill and sent to Ontario Plants through a pipeline.

In total the project will produce up to 138,000 Megawatt hours annually or power 1200 homes. This project will displace approximately 15,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually or remove 4545 cars from the road. Once there is sufficient landfill gas created, there will be an expansion of another 6 MW generation facility.  For more information click here

Canadale Nurseries

Bill and Joan Intven immigrated from the Netherlands in 1950 with a dream to own a nursery. That dream was realized when Canadale Nurseries was establish in 1955 in Central Elgin on a sandy loam farm. Two of their seven children came into the business and now manage the retail (Pauline) and wholesale business (Tom).

They offer a wide variety of products such as colorful perennials, lush evergreens, flowering shrubs and ornamental trees. The 110- acre award-winning nursery uses the most advanced greenhouse technology for its production facility.

Canadale Nurseries is no stranger to awards having received "Landscape Ontario Consumer's Choice Award" as Ontario's Favorite Garden Centre for 4 out of 5 years running 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005.

The Better Business Bureau of Western Ontario "Business Integrity Award, 2001," and the Landscape Ontario Awards of Excellence for both Garden Centre and Grower Programs.

Heritage Line Herbs

In the early summer of 2002, Tom and Deb Benner purchased a culinary herb business. Transitioning from tobacco, the couple converted old tobacco greenhouses to grow fresh herbs. The operation grew from growing two to three types of herb crops to over 160 with each requiring its own special growing conditions.

Since then, Heritage Line Herbs has added newer greenhouses allowing them to create greater synergies with existing buildings.

Heritage Line Herbs expanded to a retail store, which they converted from a bunkhouse that housed offshore workers and an outdoor tea room in their gardens. Heritage Line Herbs sells 160 different herbs, heirloom vegetable plants and seeds, dried herb blends, dried herbs, oils, vinegars, mustards, jellies and tea, a wide selection of gourmet food and a variety of seasonal and holiday gifts. The dried herbs and herb blends are now certified organic and grown, dried and processed on their farm.