The seeds of success

Sadowski grows a green career

Sadowski

Bruce Sadowski never got farther than one step down his original career path.

“My guidance counselor told me to transfer,” he said. “He told me there were no jobs.”

That was one day after Sadowski started college at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he planned to study physical education. Heeding that advice, he said, was probably the best move he ever made.

He transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, studied business for a few years and then made another major decision, this time to return home to work in the greenhouse where he got his first job.

Today Sadowski is the owner of Germantown-based Groth’s Country Gardens, the greenhouse/flower shop previously owned by his in-laws.

Sadowski, 54, first got dirt under his fingernails as an eighth grader in 1966. He lived two miles from Groth’s and, he said, he wanted to do any job that would get him out of the house.

“It was well worth it to not have to do dishes,” he said, noting that he made $5 a day. “After my first paycheck, I realized what the government took out. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to work for anyone else. … I wanted to work for myself.

“My goal was to get rich and buy an island.”

Sadowski still hasn’t bought that island, but, in a way, he figured out how to bring the feel and smell of an island to his work. He married the greenhouse owner’s daughter, Elaine, and, in 1977, assumed ownership of Groth’s, which has 32 greenhouses on the Germantown property.

Under Sadowski’s leadership, Groth’s emphasizes the odd, he said.

Bougainvilleas, which typically thrive in tropical climates, stand near about 1,500 square feet of banana, starfruit and lemon trees.

“It’s exotic, and people like that,” Sadowski said. “Every now and then, you can go pick a lemon and a lime, and it makes it worth it.”

He credits his father-in-law with giving him the boost he needed to succeed in business.

“My father-in-law was very good at letting me experiment,” Sadowski said. “He wasn’t always looking over my shoulder. It helped me enjoy it.”

Sadowski’s penchant for horticulture isn’t just a commercial venture; it’s a personal avocation. He served on the board of directors of the Commercial Flower Growers of Wisconsin, and, in recognition of his lifetime of horticultural achievements, he recently received a Distinguished Service Award from the Wisconsin Green Industry Federation.

But running a greenhouse isn’t always a bed of roses. In 1983, fire gutted portions of a Groth’s building. A few years later, greenhouse windows were lost to a hailstorm. Then in 1997, the roof blew off in a storm.

Still, Sadowski tries to keep the business on solid ground.

“I don’t know if you become hardened or you just shrug your shoulders and move on,” he said. “You just keep on going.”

Sadowski, who said he’ll never retire, didn’t have to take the advice of that counselor so long ago, but he said he’s glad he did.

“I enjoy coming to work,” he said. “About halfway through a vacation, I’m ready to come back.

“If you really like what you’re doing, you learn to love it. It’s part of your life.”

— Sharon Verbeten