September 11, 2025
Meet Landscape Ontario’s lifelong landscape architect
Haig Seferian
Landscape architect and head of Burlington-based SDG Landscape Architects, Haig Seferian is a firm believer in collaboration. It’s what attracted him to Landscape Ontario decades ago.
Seferian first got involved with the association shortly after graduating from the University of Guelph’s Landscape Architecture program in 1987. His boss at Aldershot Landscape Contractors (ALC), Bill DeLuca, wanted the company to have representation at the local chapter meetings, so he sent Seferian to attend. “Right away, I was hooked,” Seferian said.
“I really enjoyed the people at LO,” Seferian said. “I enjoyed the camaraderie. It was people helping people. I think that’s what really drew me in. There was very little competition. Once you got in the building, competition was left behind. We were all in the same boat together. I really loved that.”
Soon after, Seferian was given the opportunity to teach night school at Humber College by the program’s director, Tony DiGiovanni. With no teaching experience, Seferian’s one semester trial turned into a second and a third semester.
While teaching, Seferian was upset there were no associations or groups that welcomed landscape design students into their membership. He sought a home for students and called up DiGiovanni who was now the executive director at Landscape Ontario. Together they made it happen by forming their own group for Certified Landscape Designers (CLDs).
After that, Seferian continued to be involved with LO’s evolution. “I was so humbled,” he said. “I remember going into these meetings, and I was by far the youngest kid in there. The room was full of the pioneers in our industry. I’m looking around the room and I’m thinking, ‘I can’t believe I’m in the same room with these guys.’” It took him a year, he said, to start speaking up.
In the 90s, Seferian’s design firm SDG Landscape Architects won a blind competition to design a master plan for LO’s original property off Highway 401 in the outskirts of Milton, Ont. The plan was ambitious, with an island designed on the pond — part of the land that has since been sold to pay for the first building expansion. The master plan has evolved with the association over decades, and is soon to be revised yet again.
Seferian continues to be heavily involved in the association's Building Committee. He works on anything relating to LO’s property and is engaged in the current expansion: the greenhouses are coming down and a training centre is going up. “Now with this expansion, there will be nothing like [LO’s facility] in the world in terms of horticulture,” Seferian said.
Now, with the expansion scheduled to break ground in mid- to late-October, the opportunity is here to implement SDG’s full plan. “Dreams aren’t just dreams anymore,” Seferian said. “We’re making them a reality.” For him, it was always about creating a world-class facility: one open to the public, where members could show off their work, laypeople could get ideas for their own backyards and kids could come on field trips. “It was really to bring people to the site and teach them what horticulture is,” he explained.
The committee is working to highlight new technologies in the latest design which will provide another educational opportunity for the public. Seferian spoke of using permeable surfaces to store rainwater for reuse, installing a green roof on top of the training centre and including charging stations for electric cars in the parking lot.
“We’re trying to be very forward-thinking,” he said. “It’s not only to show off to our members and our clients, but to show off internationally what Canada is up to. This is the premier spot for it.” He wants LO to continue to be a leader: to showcase the best of landscape and horticulture not just in Ontario or Canada, but around the world.
Member companies have received such recognition; SDG, for example, is an internationally awarded design firm. They’ve also won many Landscape Ontario Awards of Excellence, though they only started entering projects after Seferian laid down his hosting microphone as the awards ceremony’s emcee. He said the event blew his mind each year. He also remembers the incredible gardens built at Congress and Canada Blooms, which he believes is a good showcase for the talent of the industry.
These events demonstrate how the value that originally attracted Seferian to LO continues to this day. “Everybody’s always in a craze to get things done under the wire, but you see people helping people. They’re all competition, but they’re colleagues as well. Nobody wants to see anybody fail. So it’s that camaraderie that I really, really enjoy being a part of.”