Toronto's Pearson International Airport sees some 160,000 passengers per day during its busiest season, but amid the rush of eager jet-setters, something far slower, more hushed and quite magical is happening outside one of the terminals.

Anyone who takes a moment to (literally) stop and smell the roses outside of Pearson's Terminal 1 will find, instead of flowers, a random tomato plant that has managed to thrive in one of the airport's outdoor planters.

As staff wrote in a charming post on X last week, no one knows exactly how or when the bush seeded there. But, since it's made an appearance, it's become a bit of an obsession for some team members, even earning itself a name: Tommy the Tomato Plant.

We’ve got bees making honey, and now we’re thinking about tackling another culinary adventure — homemade tomato sauce! 🍅

No one knows how these tomato seeds ended up in the planter outside Terminal 1. But we do know that a few of our green-thumbed staff have been giving this… pic.twitter.com/qEpysx9s3P

— Toronto Pearson (@TorontoPearson) September 12, 2024

"We have a few dedicated employees with a green thumb who are making sure Tommy is cared for, including being well-hydrated during this bout of late summer heat," a representative from YYZ told blogTO over email, adding that the plant had just had "a nice cool drink of water" at the time of their message.

Further public updates show that Tommy is growing by the day thanks to all of the love, and has started to sprout fruit — about two dozen green tomatoes at present, the team says.

They add that when the tomatoes ripen, the hub will let those who've been tending to Tommy divide the veggies amongst themselves "to make anything from pasta sauce to bruschetta, or even to save the seeds to plant next spring!"

Summer’s not quite ready to pack it up, and neither is our tomato plant (with plans underway to affectionately name it Tommy the Tomato Plant).

With the heat sticking around this weekend, it’s crucial we keep Tommy well-hydrated.

He’s thriving and growing bigger by the day, and… pic.twitter.com/Ds78DMqckb

— Toronto Pearson (@TorontoPearson) September 14, 2024

Proof that life indeed finds a way, Tommy can be visited at Terminal 1, while updates on his progress can be found on the airport's social media pages.