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STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS
A Falmouth man with a passion for horticulture is celebrating more than 50 years in the business, and he has no intention of slowing down anytime soon.
“My mantra is basically if you stop looking and you stop learning, you’re dead,” said Stan Kochanoff, who is approaching 85.
Kochanoff, the owner of Environova Planning Group Inc. and Maritime Landscape Services Ltd., intends to retire when he turns 95.
Those who know him say that’s not surprising at all.
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Kochanoff was recently awarded Landscape Nova Scotia’s Honorary Lifetime Membership Award — a recognition that very few have received in the organization’s history.
“Looking at his accolades, I think it’s an understatement to say he’s done an enormous amount of work. It’s hard to say where the industry would be without Stan’s efforts because he’s been in it for so long,” said Jan Loner, the executive director of Landscape Nova Scotia.
Loner and Steve Smith, the president of the association, took Kochanoff out for lunch on March 24 to present the award.
“His work on the provincial specifications committee has shaped how horticulture is done properly and what a standard should be, not only in Nova Scotia but across the country. The saying goes, ‘right tree, right place,’” said Loner.
Kochanoff is a charter member of LNS and past president. He’s served on numerous horticulture associations, spanning more than five decades.
He also served as president of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association (CNLA) for two years, and was on the board for 10.
“His unwavering dedication is what earned him the award,” said Loner. “There are very few people who are so dedicated to their career for so many years. But it’s not just a career at that point, it’s a lifestyle.”
Where it all began
Kochanoff’s parents fled Bulgaria in the 1920s after fascists seized his father’s export machinery company that was sending equipment to the United States. They moved to Toledo, Ohio, where his dad operated a small hotel and trading business. They soon moved to a farm in Winnipeg, Man., but the cold winters led them to move to Niagara Falls, Ont., where Kochanoff was born and raised.
Upon graduating high school, Kochanoff enrolled at Niagara Parks School of Horticulture for the 36-month consecutive program.
“We worked year-round on the campus and did the maintenance of the grounds and then we had lectures at night and during the day,” recalled Kochanoff.
Upon graduation, he applied to Cornell University in New York to take its horticulture program.
“They first rejected me because of my SATs, which you have to take when you go to the American college,” said Kochanoff, noting he flunked the special exams.
He then talked to the dean and some of the professors and they agreed to take him on as a special student because he was older and already had a three-year diploma.
“I passed the first year with flying colours and got accepted into the regular program and actually finished up on the dean’s list on my last year,” said Kochanoff.
It was at university that he met his wife, Peggy. The couple married in 1966.
In 1966 and 1967, the couple travelled Europe, exploring as many places as possible.
“It was a postgraduate scholarship from Cornell to do what they call directed practice,” said Kochanoff. “So we had a whole year in Europe, basically concentrating on England, Denmark, Germany and Holland. But then we visited another 18 countries because we had a little Volkswagen bug.”
Kochanoff worked in Ohio and Ontario before relocating to Nova Scotia in 1970 to become the horticulturist for Avon Valley Greenhouses (now called Avon Valley Floral).
“I was brought in to take the place of the original production manager, a fellow by the name of Frank Marriott, who came over from England on one of those exchange programs,” recalled Kochanoff.
Marriott had helped establish Avon Valley Greenhouses with two partners more than 40 years before, becoming known as the “first man to successfully grown chrysanthemums every day of the year.”
Kochanoff stayed on with the Falmouth-based company until 1974, when he started his own business with a focus on landscaping. He’s seen considerable changes over the years.
“There seems to be more recognition for professionalism because when I started, there were very few people that had any training in horticulture. Basically, when they started, they just picked up the truck and grabbed some tools and away they go. A good majority of the landscape companies had started that way,” said Kochanoff.
“I was one of the first, I guess, with professional training in the Valley. And of course, there weren’t that many of us at that time, but now there’s scads.”
Kochanoff is now a one-man operation, but at the height of his enterprise, he employed 36 people year-round.
“For a couple of years, I saw $1 million come in and out,” said Kochanoff, reflecting on the early 1980s when his company was looking after all the maintenance in Burnside Industrial Park.
“We did snow removal. It was a complete operation because I had to keep people year-round. So that was fine until the bubble broke in the late ‘80s,” said Kochanoff, noting he downsized operations to cover a smaller area in Burnside and then Bedford.
“So I was running two businesses — a consulting business and a landscape construction and maintenance business.”
Future plans
The certified arborist still has both businesses, but as he’s aged, he’s adjusted how he tackles projects. He considers himself a landscape broker now. He still does consulting, mainly for trees and pre-loss assessments — he has been assisting the repair work to trees that were heavily vandalized at the Halifax Public Gardens last year — and is subcontracting other projects to trusted companies.
“I’m a landscape broker. I basically go out and get the work, do the design and then I sub out to subcontractors that I’ve worked with for a number of years and then do the project management,” said Kochanoff.
He laughs when he says he’s eyeing Freedom 95 — the age in which he hopes to retire.
He said his peers have largely all retired, and many people he helped train have either started their own businesses or have retired.
Kochanoff said it’s rewarding work, which is why he wants to carry on.
“I’m still passionate about my work. I enjoy the creative aspect of it and it’s nice to see people when they’re happy with the end result,” said Kochanoff.
In order to reach his retirement goal, he said he tries to remain physically and mentally active. He attends the gym three days a week, does yoga and meditation. He’s had both knees replaced after retiring from hockey when he was 78.
“I’ve got a passion for learning, so I’m doing a lot more reading and trying some self-development programs,” said Kochanoff.
“I figure it’s not too late to learn.”
Kochanoff is currently writing a book and developing a TEDx Talk — an 18-minute or less program that showcases the speaker’s knowledge on a subject — that he hopes to present at Dalhousie University. He said the topic is trees and climate change.
He’s still quite active in the community, volunteering his time and talent for a number of fundraisers and functions, and has helped bolster Windsor’s tree canopy.
Earlier this year, he was also awarded the Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal.
When asked what advice he has for people pursuing a similar career, he said: “If they’re going to be an entrepreneur, make sure they pay themselves first instead of waiting until the end to see if there’s anything left, which is a mistake that I made in a few years.”
He said to pay attention to the economy, as downturns, like what happened in the 1980s and during the COVID-19 pandemic, will have an impact.
“I’d say you’ve got to really watch your dollars and make sure the business plan is solid.”
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