Meet Our Guides

Stewart has been taking travellers to the UK for over 25 years.  He owned The Wee Tartan Shop in Port Perry for 27 years and sold it this August.  He is moving permanently back to the UK where he plans on continuing his tours.  He will have lots of time to research new sites and check out hotels to give his clients the best possible experience.  He can arrange small group tours, family trips , garden tours and of course his well renowned coach tours.  iI you have any special requests, feel free to email and just ask. 

After starting her career as a school teacher, she found her true calling in Horticulture. As manager of Pine Ridge Nurseries in Pickering she amassed a collection of over 500 different pelargoniums and was integral in helping to introduce many specialty annuals as well as Blooms of Bressingham perennials to Canadian gardeners. After a 20 year stint, Mason Hogue Gardens was formed to continue bringing “Really Cool Plants” to Ontario gardeners.

With a desire to nurture and educate, she lectured across Canada and parts of the U.S., sharing her love of gardens and horticulture. This led to many years of hosting “Let’s Get Growing” a live call-in radio show on CKQT and continuing on CKDO 107.7fm in Oshawa. As a spin off from the radio show, she also created and hosted “Let’s Get Growing” the television show on Rogers Cable in the Durham Region.

With a dream of visiting Great Gardens Around the World, she organized her first Garden tour of the U.K. in 1985 and has never looked back. She has designed and hosted garden tours, all over the U.K. and around the world ever since.

Growing up immersed in gardening, it was no surprise that he developed a deep love and appreciation of plants and horticulture. From his first job at Pine Ridge Nurseries at the age of 14, he has spent a lifetime growing and educating about plants, gardening and horticulture.

He gave his first lecture at 18 and had been speaking to garden clubs and horticultural societies even since. AS well he taught an introduction to horticulture class at George Brown College for 10 years.

Starting Mason Hogue Gardens in 1993 with his mother Marjorie, he continued to bring “Really Cool Plants” to Canadian gardeners. He has continued this tradition with Mason House Gardens. As well he has teamed up with Marjorie in hosting “Let’s Get Growing” on CKDO 107.7fm and hosting “Let’s Get Growing” on Facebook Live and Youtube.

Continuing the tradition of garden touring, he has joined Marjorie, along with Paul Zammit, in hosting garden tours across the U.K., Ireland and beyond.

Paul Zammit, is a graduate of the University of Guelph and is a professor of Horticulture at Niagara College.  Prior to joining the faculty, Paul held the position of the Director of Horticulture at the Toronto Botanical Garden for 10 years.  Before that, he spent 20 years managing the Perennial Department at Plant World.  He is a passionate and energetic gardener and lover of nature who has been delivering presentations across Canada, throughout the US and internationally in countries such as Switzerland, Germany, Bermuda and South Africa for over 35 years.  For the past 10 years, Paul has been providing gardening advice on the CBC Here and Now radio program. In 2022 Paul became the regular garden host on the weekly CBC program Ontario Today.    Paul is also an avid photographer. His articles and images have been featured in numerous gardening magazines including Fine Gardening.  In 2017, Garden Making magazine selected Paul and his wife as two of Canada’s top 20 people shaping gardens across Canada.    Since 2019, Paul has had the pleasure of assisting Marjorie and Jeff Mason with international garden tours to England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.  Paul has been the recipient of several industry awards.  Most recently, in 2019 and again in 2021 he received the Garden Communicator of the Year award from Landscape Ontario. In 2023 he received an Educator award from the Perennial Plant Association.