Gardens with nothing in them?

[BigDahliaFan]

Would you not at least put a low maintenance shrub in? I mean not everyone wants full on Monty Don....but something?

My garden has no plants...a patio and fake lawn. We do have garden furniture. We're both absolutely useless at gardening and have no interest in it.

I thought like that til I had a chronic illness.

I agree. I'm one of only a handful of people on our estate who's planted a garden. It looks lovely and it attracts the wildlife. Small fruit trees and shrubs only need a haircut a couple of times a year, so minimal effort yet everyone's gardens are barren or full of weeds, pots with dead plants in or gravel that's spread all over the place.

Tell me about it. We've been in a new build estate for two years. I'm the only one along my stretch who grows anything in my garden. Except I think two front gardens have newish privet hedges. The backs are all barren. Most are paved.

Mine isn't exactly a Monty Don level job but there are plants.

When my climbers took off up the trellis last year, four near neighbours all went out and bought....fake greenery on plastic trellis. So they can see my plants from their top windows, apparently liked what they saw but concluded plastic was a good copycat choice. Blows my mind.

Maybe it's a second generation thing, where lots of today's householders were never exposed to gardening or grew anything as DC? Same as the cooking crisis, perhaps?

Having said that, these aren't starter homes. They are big 5 bedroom houses. So not many twenty somethings here. Maybe it's a time thing? Don't know but I would outlaw all plastic greenery along with astroturf.

It's not a garden then. It is just an outdoor space/yard/ whatever.

no, and why does it bother you?

IDK but I'm not. I'm in my 40s. I just couldn't bear to sit in a concrete and plastic hot box in the summer. Gardening doesn't have to be complex. Shrubs are so easy.

Sounds like one of my neighbours. They went to a lot of expense a few years ago having their garden landscaped; so there are lawns, walls and a patio, but not a single flower/shrub.
Seems quite odd to me; but then I veer towards an overgrown cottage garden look which I assume they think looks terrible.

People of all ages like gardening. I won first prize for Best Children's Garden in my old home town when I was about 8. I still have the newspaper cutting.

A lot of people are time poor and/or just not fussed for gardening. It’s not really a bad thing.

Yeah but people who are retired generally have more time to dedicate to gardening and passing judgement on other peoples gardens.

I would love a nice garden full of lovely plants, but with two children under three, plus work and all the other life admin, it’s just not top of the priority list at the moment. It’s plain but functional, and that’s the best I’m going to get for now!
I suspect many people are the same.

It is a bad thing for bees, wildlife, etc.

Drainage and runoff become an environmental issue when everything is paved.

Astroturf is a disaster, ecologically.

My neighbours are so determined to create an entirely artificial "party space" in their garden they have actually painted the rocks a different shade of grey! I don't think they particularly like my tangle of wildflowers and fruit trees, and there were definitely raised eyebrows when we turned our front garden into a vegetable patch. Each to their own.

This. For many, gardening = outdoor housework.

There's some lovely front gardens around here. One exception is paved with a bit of AstroTurf in one corner - I assume that the owners are physically disabled. I can't imagine why else there wouldn't even be a few pots. A little bit of something for the birds and bees doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming.

I love how many posters are absolutely determined that gardening is an exclusively 60+ activity.

I've been gardening since my 20s - lived in a house with no outdoor space and negotiated the use of a couple of square feet of my neighbour's space to put pots on...

I'm not retired yet.

And putting a couple of evergreen shrubs in does not in any way involve much work for most people.

My garden is small and cottage garden style...it's a fair amount of work because I want it that way.

It was prompted by a couple of houses I've seen for sale that have fake grass, outdoor seating and nothing else...And not houses that have been flipped.

This is true. I personally hate fake grass and am new to gardening but trying to make a nice place for wildlife in my wee new build garden. However, I don’t go around judging people for not recycling so I won’t judge people for having plastic grass in their garden. Especially because we all know these things are tiny in comparison to the damage done by private jets/worldwide shipping/mass farming worldwide.

Ignoring that you say you are useless at and have no interest in gardening, if it was done for you would you not like to look at or sit in a nice garden?

Our newbuild development is a mix of those who want a barren wasteland and those who (like us) want landscaped gardens with (real) lawns, shrubs, hedging & trees.
Luckily the wastelanders are not adjacent to us so we have multiple gardens filled with plants (and increasing amounts of wildlife). Also we have (developer) planting along the paths, driveways etc so there is greenery beyond the gardens.

We like a busy, interesting garden so beyond the patio we have a nice lawn and then plenty of shrubs, hedging, trees & pots.
Neither of us are skilled (or particularly keen) gardeners but to be able to enjoy the garden we know it needs a bit of work and it is not something we would get people in for.

I planted a lot of dahlias. Thanks to the slugs I now have a lot of empty space.