About

Chuck and Mary Ellen Heidgen started Shady Hill Gardens in 1974 at the original greenhouses in Batavia. Those greenhouses were built in the early 1900’s, as a cut flower growing facility, and in 1974, they had been vacant for a number of years. All of the greenhouses had ground beds and there were no cement aisles and very few benches inside. Those houses were modified to grow different crops, in addition to being used for retail shopping.

Shady Hill Gardens has gained a national reputation as geranium specialists, after more than 30 years of breeding, propagating and growing geraniums of every color, shape, size and scent imaginable. Although geraniums were Shady Hill’s calling card, they also produces a wide range of bedding plants, herbs, hanging baskets, vegetables, perennials and finished planters each spring. You can also find poinsettias at Christmas, as well as mums and other autumn offerings in the fall. As with the geraniums, we look for different, unique and uncommon plants in all of the different crops that we grow. Sometimes those are new varieties and sometimes they are older plants that have been forgotten.

After the spring of 2007, Chuck’s two oldest sons, Matt and Joe, took over ownership of Shady Hill Gardens and the entire operation moved to the greenhouse in Elburn. The Elburn facility is a state of the art Dutch, glass greenhouse that has many efficiency features that make it enjoyable for our customers, as well as our staff. Shady Hill has had greenhouses on this property since 1993 and has been open for retail sales here since 1999.

2014 was our 40th season of growing and selling plants. Growing the plants that we sell differentiates us from some of our competitors. The plants you purchase are grown locally and you choose them fresh, out of the greenhouses. They are not handled, shipped, stored or grown in an environment other than here in Northern Illinois.

In Spring of 2022, Matt and Joe decided it was time to retire and began looking for the right people to take over what their family had built, someone with the same passion for plants. All of us at Countryside Flower Shop, Nursery and Garden Center in Crystal Lake, Illinois were thrilled to hear that our new owners, as of September 15, 2020, wanted to expand our growing areas to produce even more Countryside Home Grown plants. As of September 1, 2022 Shady Hill Gardens became Countryside Flower Shop, Nursery and Garden Center – Elburn!

We are thrilled to continue to grow the same quality plants you have come a custom to and are happy to say, the friendly and helpful staff you have come to know are right here too, waiting to help you with your selections.

We look forward to showing you all we have to offer. Countryside Home Grown Annuals, Perennials, Hanging Baskets, Vegetable Plants, Houseplants, Tree, Shrubs and Evergreens along with everything you need to be successful in the garden! Don’t wait any longer! Come on by and see what’s new at Countryside Flower Shop, Nursery and Garden Center – Elburn! Conveniently located on Route 38, just two miles east of Route 47.

Our sister store is Countryside Flower Shop, Nursery and Garden Center on Route 176. The address is 5301 E Terra Cotta Ave, Crystal Lake, IL 60014 and we service the McHenry County, Illinois area. We are excited to be cultivating our future with the addition of our new location, serving the Kane County, Illinois, at Countryside Flower Shop, Nursery and Garden Center – Elburn located at 42W075 Route 38, Elburn, Illinois.

Come in for a visit, we can’t wait to show you what’s growing!