Small Home Gazette, Summer 2024

Landscaping the Bungalow

Have you ever wondered how your bungalow was originally landscaped? It is a virtual certainty that the plantings installed by the first owners of your home are long gone. Possibly, a tree or two may remain, but everything else probably died; became overgrown and was torn out; or fell prey to changing tastes in plantings.

Even though the plants themselves may be history, related vintage ephemera from the bungalow era turns up now and then. These documents can provide a precise—even photographic—window into the past.

Cover of The Chase Plan Book. We came across one such document, The Chase Plan Book, that was published in 1925 by The Chase Brothers Co., of Rochester, New York. This plant nursery company existed in various configurations from 1857 until 1956. Read a detailed history of the enterprise.

Fortunately for us bungalow dwellers, the majority of the houses pictured in the 52-page, soft-cover booklet are bungalows and other Arts & Crafts style houses. And while the growing zone of Rochester, New York (6b), is warmer than that of Minneapolis-St. Paul (5a), many of the plants suggested in The Chase Plan Book will do quite well in either zone.

Before and after photos of the same house.

Before and after images from The Chase Plan Book. The book’s caption for the left photograph reads: “Nothing attractive or pleasing in this picture.” The caption for the right photo: “The Transformation after Planting.”

Some plants that are repeatedly suggested throughout the booklet should already be familiar to local gardeners. They include barberry, forsythia, honeysuckle, hydrangea, lilac, snowberry, spirea and weigela.

Shown here are just a few pages from the booklet, which consists almost entirely of photographs and line drawings of landscape plans. The Chase Plan Book can be viewed in its entirety (52 pages) and downloaded from the Twin Cities Bungalow Club website’s “Articles of Interest” page.

A nicely landscaped bungalow, left, and the plan and plant list, right, from The Chase Plan Book.

If you want to spruce up your home’s curb appeal and are looking for vintage inspiration, this booklet would be a good place to start.