Family-owned garden center still expanding
Chicago-area homeowners spend all winter dreaming about summer and the time they can spend enjoying their yard. Most don't want to slave on their yard, but they do long to enjoy it with family and friends.
Lurvey Home & Garden, 2550 E. Dempster St., Des Plaines, works hard to provide homeowners with all of the plant material, hardscape materials and advice they need to create an outdoor home environment of their dreams.
The Lurvey family has been selling sod, landscaping supplies and other garden items from their 9-acre Des Plaines location since 1986 when they purchased the garden center and former truck farm from Ray and Marion Lindemann, who had operated it for about 50 years. The Lurveys continued to operate the business as Lindemann's Garden Center until 1994 when the name was changed to Lurvey.
"In 2016 the new state-of-the-art Lurvey Home & Garden opened and has since seen the expansion of the covered shopping area to encompass over 14,000 square feet of covered (outdoor) space to protect plants from the elements along with the 14,000-square-foot store," said Scott Goczkowski, general manager. "With these improvements, our product mix has grown to include a better selection of garden essentials, boutique gifts, indoor furniture and home accessories, gourmet foods, and conservatory with indoor and blooming house plants."
"It has also allowed us to expand our pottery, garden art and fountain selection and add other outdoor must-haves, like outdoor furniture and gas and propane fire features. Looking for inspiration, our Des Plaines location is home to many stone, paver and water garden displays that you can see the products in use," he added.
Lurvey is now a "destination" shop instead of just a garden center. It has a classroom for workshops, a conference room for consultations and even a lounge area with comfortable furniture and a two-story fireplace where customers can read brochures and meet with designers, Goczkowski said.
Lurvey stocks and sells trees (including disease-resistant varieties), shrubs, perennials, annuals, hanging baskets, vegetable plants, herbs, sod, hardscapes, stone, soil, water features and much more from its large campus.
It also offers a container planting service - take in your container and Lurvey experts will fill it with plants for your home or business - and it delivers and plants trees at your location.
"Now that we have the space, we are reaching out even more to the community. We have started a garden club for kids on the third Sunday afternoon of each month, for instance, in order to get the next generation excited about gardening and we offer many more special events, now that we have a place to host people, even in inclement weather," he said.
Seminars and demonstrations by experts are free while workshops involve a fee and registration. Participants are asked to R.S.V.P. for all.
Today and Sunday, June 22 and 23, it will hold its annual perennial fair with special sales, speakers and giveaways. No registration is necessary.
Then, on July 24 and Aug. 4, Lurvey will hold its "Homeowner Design Series" on redesigning your front yard into a welcoming garden. This series includes the Wine and Design Slideshow to help you get inspired about the possibilities and a hands-on Plant Palette Workshop, where participants work with plants at the garden center. Finally, there will be an individualized design consultation during which a Lurvey designer will work with you to finalize your inspiration, ideas and plants into a thoughtful, scaled planting plan.
Individualized expert assistance in several forms is available by appointment throughout the year. If you have a project in mind, but don't know where to start, experienced product specialists can provide the guidance you need through "Lurvey Connect," a free, by-appointment service. They will discuss your project and timeline, help you determine the best starting point, refer you to contractors and even help you choose your materials.
Looking for more than Lurvey Connect? "We have an in-store consultation service, as well as a full comprehensive landscape design service, to help with your project," Goczkowski said.
Lurvey has even initiated a loyalty program that allows members to participate in exclusive sales and receive special perks. For more information about Lurvey Garden Center, visit www.lurveys.com or call (847) 824-7411.