Welcome to Contrary Mary's!

We are a small, family-owned greenhouse located southwest of Chicago specializing in unusual perennials, hostas, aquatic plants, collector's conifers, and unique trees and shrubs that you won't find at big chain nurseries.

Because of the HUGE number of requests we receive, our complete selection of hostas and peonies are now available to be shipped as bare root plants! For our other great plants, come visit us at our Farm outside Chicago!

General Ordering Information

We are happy to take your order via our on-line store or as a phone order. For phone orders, please call us at (815) 521-9535 between 9a-6p Central time and have your credit card information available. Although we have LOTS of varieties, we do have LIMITED quantities of each and we want to be able to place them on hold just for YOU!!! Therefore, we do charge your credit card AT THE TIME THE ORDER IS PLACED in order to reserve your plants.

We ship all orders via USPS Priority Mail which takes about 2-3 days to receive. Our basic shipping/handling charge is $12.95 plus $1.50 per plant ordered. We also track each order to ensure it gets to you in a timely manner.

Hostas

We ship Hostas, weather permitting, mid-April through mid-September. You can expect your plants to have excellent root systems and to usually have multiple eyes. Most of them have come from one gallon containers or were field grown so they should re-establish quickly for you. Plant them as soon as possible (don't let them dry out!) in a shady to partial shade location that has been amended with compost. Water thoroughly after planting and make sure they get about 1" of water per week during the growing season. Just remember that hostas take several years to mature, so be patient as they're WELL worth the wait (speaking as a hosta addict!!!)

Peonies

We harvest our Peonies from our fields starting in early September. Weather permitting, we will ship you your bareroot Peony order mid-September to late October. Be sure to place your order by October 25th, 2010 for shipment this year. Due to the fragility of Peony eyes in the spring, we can ONLY ship them in the fall. They will be shipped to you via priority mail and will generally be 3-5 eyes although it will vary some depending on the growth habit of the individual variety.