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 Dd lived flowers from a really early age. She used to decorate herself in them all the time.

Shes nearly 18 and knows the names of lots of them. She still asks me about them. She still loves them.

She’d hate grass and concrete.

I love over grown bushy gardens. I love flowers and bees.

however … my garden is just artificial lawn and patio.

we live such busy lives and both hate gardening. We never sit out there so it just needs to be tidy!

one day when im retired I’ll have the garden of my dreams. Until then plastic and patio 😩

I was told by an estate agent round me ( old established suburb) that houses with floral gardens sell faster and command higher prices than lawn and concrete.

However round me there are hardly any lawn and paving gardens. Most of them have lots of plants and flowers.

This, and some of the other similar examples, are just so sad... words fail me!
Of course everyone can do what they like with their own house but I will never be able to understand doing something like this.

My husband was really upset over his beloved grandparents' beautiful front garden (including his grandmother's much loved rosebushes) being paved over back in the late 90s..

Ah that's lovely. I do think that having a garden full of greenery, flowers and wildlife helps children to have an interest in nature as well (of course I realise not everyone is I'm the position to have the choice)

Yeah that was my thinking.

She’s always out smelling them and looking at bees. She loves bees too.

I love the fact that wildlife will visit if you give them some shrubs and plants. Dh lifted an upturned planter one day to find a toad sitting underneath, so he just covered it back up.

Both my next door neighbour's back gardens consist of mud and dandelions. My soul would shrivel and die if I had to see that from my kitchen window.

Dandelions are brilliant for insects! They are also cheerful- a bit maligned.

I am no great gardener and spend hardly any time on it, I have two rose bushes and three other flowering shrubs, they need almost zero maintenance. I don't get why anyone would prefer plastic when it probably takes me about one hour perhaps once a year to maintain my garden! (Not counting the time spent mowing but that is a quick job.) I think some people overcomplicate it and think it's more difficult than it is. Sure having a beautiful garden bursting with flowers would take more time, but my small garden still has flowers and is perfectly nice and barely takes any time whatsoever.

Yes, but they are also plotting world domination because they give off a chemical which inhibits the growth of anything around them! 😱🫣🌼

Nothing growing but trillions of dandelions. They'll be the next Japanese knotweed 😂

🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

I work and have two children but still find the time to do my garden. Gives me a lot of joy. It's well established with plenty of shrubs and bushes and I'll plant bedding plants this time of year, lavender bushes absolutely love them. Love seeing nature in the garden. Had a rant at my DH because if it wasn't for me he wouldn't have a nice garden to look at!

I hate gardening, it is the least rewarding task ever to me. It requires too much effort for either things that you want, not to grow or for the weeds to grow again. I have e made a massive (for me) effort with the driveway and front garden as that is the area I see the most, but again it needs weeding again and there is pollen on the paintwork that needs a wipe. I need to find some plants to fill the gaps and give some colour, but have no clue about what might go in partial sun and not look like an old lady plant that slugs and snails won't decimate.
I have a reasonable sized rear garden with different tiers, the tiers I can't see, I am pretending don't exist until either a family member or a neighbour makes some kind of passive aggressive remark about what I could do with it, then I will begrudgingly probably do something.
I've been let down a lot by people who are supposed to be doing some gardening work for me too, which doesn't help with my attitude towards it.

I’m a professional gardening writer, and I have no problem with gardens that have nothing in them.
Gardening takes a lot of time, and a fair bit of money - and some people don’t have that much to spare! if you’re not into it as hobby, it just becomes another chore. Sometimes it feels like a chore even when you are into it!
I’d much rather see an empty garden than a load of stuff that’s been planted in the wrong places by someone who doesn’t know how to care for it, either dying or growing out of control and blocking someone’s light or access.

My garden is just lawn on a slope. The lawn is a mix of grass, clover, mossy stuff, dandelions and other weeds. I'm cultivating a couple of thistles and at the back is a small section unmowed so weeds basically. A wasteland? Maybe, but a hedgehog does visit on occasion so it doesn't seem that bad. I'm not a gardener, work, and want to spend my spare time on other things. It just isn't important to me to have a lush well maintained garden. I'd like one, yes, but have other things that take precedence.

It is if they cover earth with stones and slabs and don't let any green things grow. If they let a load of weeds come up that's ok, even though it might not look to some people as pleasant as a 'tidy' garden.

We don't have anything.

When we first moved in out front garden was full of shrubs and bushes thing we ripped them out and just have white rocks our back yard did have trampoline and slides/swings when my son was younger now it houses he pet guinea pigs and that's it I have a very black thumb and best kept that way I have killed several succulents (I don't know how) I do have an devils ivy in the bathroom that's growing well but that thrives on neglect so going well there 😄.
But will never consider outdoor plants just not for me.

I love gardening. I wish I had more time for it. We’re in our 30’s- the lawn is my partner’s pride and joy and the beds/ pots are mine. Every spring I look forward to growing plants from seed. Brings me huge satisfaction planting all my seedlings into bigger pots and placing them around the garden. Such a simple thing to do but so rewarding.

I agree, OP. Back in the day, growing up, everyone in my village had SOME greenery in their gardens & took pride in their appearance. Visiting home now, 30 years on, nice gardens are few and far between.

I think it’s symbolic of a lazy society. Everyone is too busy on Netflix/ social media these days.

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I'm glad I live somewhere gardens are still the norm not an exception.
Ripping out plants and replacing with sterile hard surfaces seems like a sort of vandalism.

I have a very basic garden. Patio, chips and a small patch of fake grass for colour and ds to play on (otherwise it would be a north facing, muddy swamp at the bottom of of hill).

we have 3 large pots one with an Acer, one with a Kilmarnock Willow, both new home presents from 20 years ago and I’m surprised are not dead as I hack to pieces prune back every year. The other pot has a lavender, which usually lives about 3-4 years then dies off too and I replace.

I then buy 6 large hanging baskets inserts each year (2 for the front and 4 for the garden) which add a bit of colour.

Just outside our fence we have a row of large mature trees so that contributes to making it feel more like a garden too.

All very low maintenance (except in autumn when the leaves from all the trees fall) but it’s nice to have a few plants.

I have a chronic illness that takes all the energy out of me doing simple things but I will not compromise on having a garden inviting to wildlife. Really crucial for my mental health, even if it takes it’s toll physically.

It’s always sad to see and hear about mature gardens being ripped out and made into plastic dead zones. Most of the older generations of my family have done this and think I’m mad letting everything grow to see what pops up.

When I first moved in my border was layer upon layer of plastic and weed membrane. Not that it stopped anything. It’s full of life now. Maybe too much. I feel like I can’t dig anywhere without disturbing something. I watched a baby dunnock getting fed in amongst it all today alongside some sunbathing sparrows which brought me such joy and makes it all worth it.

I get what the gardener above says….better nothing than poorly plants.

but front gardens ripped out for parking is a particular bugbear…especially when there’s no thought been given to leave some greenery.

also I think it’s a bit like cooking, basic gardening isn’t rocket science, and better you don’t have to do it every day.

It would be nice if we could get back to more of a culture of sharing. Plant propagation is actually easy and benefits everyone. My DSis looks horrified if I mention taking a cutting from a shrub - like her garden is going to be damaged.

Your garden sounds nice and much better for the evironment than a manicured lawn 'maintained' using chemicals. There are lots of pretty low maintenance ways of having a natural garden. A meadow/wild flower/weed area only needs to be cut once a year. Roses only need feeding twice a year, pruning once and dead heading in the flowering season & you have something spectacular. Some shrubs or small trees require virtually no maintenance at all. You can buy made up hanging baskets that you just need to water. But sterile paved and plasticcy gardens kill off our wildlife and insects and contribute to problems with flooding.

Outdoor housework is a perfect description. I have a back courtyard that's concrete and stupid pebbles (brilliant idea for a retirement village where people are likely to use walkers). I don't like it, but I'm not into sitting outside, and I have zero interest in gardening, know nothing about it, and don't want to learn. I couldn't do the bending and kneeling necessary anyway, and I have nowhere to keep the necessary tools. I have a communal lawn and flowerbeds in front of my unit, taken care of by the maintenance man, and that's plenty for me.