March 2025
5 Minutes With … Scott Goczkowski By Teresa McPherson

Scott Goczkowski is general manager of home and garden at Lurvey in Des Plaines, Illinois.

What brought you to the green industry?

My dad started my love for horticulture. When I was in high school, I was looking for a summer job, and my dad, being a funeral director all his life, had a few connections. One was with several cemeteries near our home, which he said I could cut grass for, and the other was a local flower shop and garden center that he referred a lot of business to. I went with the latter and here we are, 35-plus years later, still loving the industry.

What’s the best part about your job?

Every day is different and changes with the seasons, and I truly enjoy the team I work with. Some days we are busy selling flowering annuals, the next it could be hardscapes, or garden décor, pottery; it truly is endless. I also enjoy attending various trade shows to see what is trending inside or out and how we could potentially incorporate a new category that would fit in our business model.

What is your biggest goal for the coming year?

My goal is to implement new processes and tactics that we have developed to hit and exceed our sales goal. Also, as we all know, each year something seems to throw a wrench in the plan — cicadas, bad weather for several days straight, cold spring, hot summer, drought, etc. — the challenge is always to come up with ways to adapt.

What’s something few people know about you?

I’m a proud dad of three beautiful girls — my oldest is 18 and we have twins who are 13. I have truly embraced being a girl dad. I also enjoy using my design background in picking products for the garden center, working on displays and trying to generate new ideas to keep it fresh and exciting for our customers.

Favorite plant to grow? Why?

I enjoy a good mix of plants, but some of my favorites are ornamental grasses, as they are easy to grow, require little maintenance, and come in a variety of textures, shapes and sizes. A few of my favorites are Sporoboulus heterolepis (prairie dropseed), Sesleria autumnalis (autumn moor), and Molinia caerulea ‘Moorhexe’ (moorhexe purple autumn moor).