elcome to Contrary Mary’s! We are a small, family-owned greenhouse located southwest of Chicago, and we specialize in unusual perennials, hostas, peonies, and unique fruits and vegetables that you won’t find at big chain nurseries. We can help you find the perfect plant for your sunny (or shady, damp, dry, etc.) spot to provide color and texture. Our plants are perfectly suited to our Midwest environment in Chicagoland; all of our perennials are hardy to at least Zone 5, and are plants that I think are excellent additions to everyone’s garden (gotta haves!)

Visit Contrary Mary at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show March 12th!

Mary will be speaking again this March at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier. Her talks are consistently among the top rated at the show and full of great tips and information. Both talks are on Monday, March 12, 2012. Her schedule is as follows:

• 11:00 am: “Contrary Mary’s “Gotta-Haves”—Perennially Powerful Performers and Hellaciously Hot Hostas”
• 1:30 pm: “Got Heirlooms??? Contrary Mary’s Tenaciously Terrific Tomatoes and Other Awesome Oldies”

Spring News

During the winter, we are open by appointment; please call us at (815) 521-9535! The farm will be open and full of great new plants this spring - please check back here for more updates.

Illinois State Fair - Winning Honey is here!

Speaking of honey, our 2011 crop is now ready!!! Leon, our Beekeeper, entered it in the Illinois State Fair and we got THIRD PLACE in the WHOLE STATE!!! Our bees are awesome (but Contrary of course!). If you haven’t tried it yet, you don’t know what you’re missing!

Treasures from 2011 ...

We’ve got SCADS of beauties to showcase including 70+ tempting new Hostas, 25+ new perennials, 8 new peonies, and an ever-expanding list of Heirloom veggie plants! That’s right, we now grow over 50 varieties of luscious, yummy tomatoes, over 25 kinds of peppers, and (NEW this year!) heirloom cucumbers and lettuces! Yep, we’re “growing” in a healthy way, just for you! We are also going to have lots of veggies planted in containers here at the farm just so you can see how easy (and beautiful) it is to do!

We still have some of our all natural wildflower honey left. If you need some before we open for the season, feel free to give us a call at (815) 521-9535 or e-mail us and we’ll make arrangements. (I KNOW how delicious and addicting it is, so I don’t want you to have to wait!)

We have a plethora of display beds for you to wander through, filled with 400+ varieties of specimen Hostas, 60+ kind of Peonies, tons of unusual perennials and woodies, and our two large display ponds and one pondless waterfall. You can also visit with the Three Best Shelties in the World (Mickey, Jamie and Duncan), our three Pygmy Goat weeders (Robbie, Bertie and Isabella), our three dumb (but loveable!) Daffy Ducks (Winkin’, Blinkin’, and Nod), and our new greenhouse cat Joey—he’s a real sweetie!

Our 2011 Catalog is available; the 2012 version will be available later this spring! Our catalogs are full of great information and are great references. Don’t forget that our complete selection of Hostas and Peonies are available to ship as bareroot plants—see our Online store for details.

e’re located near the intersection of I-80 and I-55 (see us on a map!) To get to our farm and nursery from Chicago and suburbs, take Interstate 55 south to the Route 52 exit and go west (towards Shorewood). We are approximately 7 miles from that point. Once you reach the intersection of Route 52 and Ridge road (a 4-way stop), keep going straight. We are exactly 1.7 miles west, on the north (right-hand) side of Route 52. Our phone number at the Farm is (815) 521-9535.

As always, we are grateful for your loyalty, support, and patronage—we sure couldn’t do it without you!   We can’t wait to visit with you at the Farm … see ya soon!!! Enjoy life, keep smilin’, and think green!

Mickey	Jamie	Duncan