The Garden Magazine, February, 1924 
333 
raraiHIS is the story of 
SPI how an unpromis- 
Wmk'vi * n g city lot was 
developed into a 
unique garden and land¬ 
scape. The property is 100 
x 300 ft. extending from the 
city street to the Rock 
River. You will see from 
the plan that the contours 
are what many people would 
call undesirable. Sometime 
after Mr. Howell purchased 
the land someone said to 
him: “1 always gave you 
credit for having sense, but 
now 1 know you have none. 
It will cost more to fill than 
the lot is worth.” 
The new owner proceeded 
tomakea “bad” lot “worse,” 
by digging the ravine deeper. 
In the workings of his imag¬ 
ination he decided that the types of wild beauty that he had found 
and loved on camping and fishing trips-should be brought home 
to his dooryard. Here in hours of respite from business cares he 
could gain recreation and the enjoyment of intimate acquain¬ 
tance with flowers, plants, and wild scenery which may come only 
from daily contact through the seasons. 
By going to a competent landscape architect (Mr. O. C. 
Simonds) with his general ideas, a working plan was obtained. 
Mr. Howell says: “After going over the place we were so well 
agreed that practically no changes were made in the preliminary 
sketch. I then proceeded to carry out this plan to the letter 
with my own hands.” He 
feels that most of the credit 
for success belongs to the 
architect while some is due 
himself for having the good 
sense to follow his advisor's 
plans and principles. 
The first ideas called for 
a ravine with water, a 
White Pine grove, a sunny 
bank and a shady one, and 
development of the river 
view. The location and 
plan of the house were de¬ 
cided with great care, par¬ 
ticularly its relation to the 
river and a large Elm al¬ 
ready on the property. 
A little nursery was 
started on the lot, using 
seeds, cuttings, and nurs¬ 
eryman’s transplants to 
supply the plant material. 
This required a considerable digging into methods of plant 
propagation which in itself became a recreation, the by-products 
of which passed to neighbors’ gardens. Mr. Howell says: 
“This has been of the very greatest benefit to me in acquiring 
knowledge of plants, their cultivation, their place in a landscape, 
and as a healthy interesting occupation.” 
There were six years of work on the landscape before the house 
was started. This gave time for careful consideration of all the 
problems. The result is a very successful one—from every as¬ 
pect the house seems to be an intimate part of the landscape. 
The entrance door is inconspicuous, but your mind is so occupied 
BEFORE AND AFTER 
This barren bit of ground was the starting-point of the completed garden pic¬ 
ture above where Peonies, Iris, Larkspur, and Oriental Poppies have taken the 
place of mere sticks and stones. The big Elm which towers, a sheltering 
sentinel, above the house is the same tree seen in the small photograph (left) 
