VOLUNTEER PROFILE Levelling up Windsor By Julia Harmsworth
The desire to bring these opportunities to others motivated Desmarais to join the Windsor Chapter Board. “I thought to myself, ‘You know, for all the courses I’ve taken and everything I’ve gotten out of LO, maybe I should give back,’” she explained. Desmarais took over as chapter president in 2021. Her first order of business was increasing the board’s membership. “It’s honestly just pounding pavement and making phone calls,” she said of the process. “Every time I find myself on the phone with another landscaper and I can steal five minutes of their time, [I] talk about LO and becoming more involved, the benefits of it and working together.” Now, seven professionals sit on the
Landscape Ontario Windsor Chapter president Liana Desmarais is on a mission to bring more opportunities to southwestern Ontario. As the owner of Plantscape, a full-service landscape design, build and maintenance company in Windsor, Ont., Desmarais feels it’s time to give back to the association that helped her settle into a new industry. Back in 2016, Desmarais’ father, Victor, passed down the family business without any warning. With an established 12-year career in finance and limited knowledge of landscaping, she quickly took advantage of the many learning opportunities at Congress to supplement her business savvy with landscaping knowledge.
Liana Desmarais
TORONTO
MUSKOKA +1
+11
GEORGIAN LAKELANDS
+2
GOLDEN HORSESHOE
DURHAM
LANDSCAPE ONTARIO WE L C OME S OUR NEWEST MEMBERS
+1
+3
OTTAWA
+3
UPPER CANADA +1
LONDON
+4
WATERLOO
+6
SEE ALL THE NEW MEMBERS IN YOUR CHAPTER AT HORTTRADES.COM/NEW-MEMBERS-MAY-2025
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