AIBU to rip out a beautiful garden in potential house?

[Mum2HC]

Looking at new house - only one we like. Owner is an older couple who have spent years creating a garden worthy of an National Trust property!! The issue is we do not enjoy gardening and do not want to have to pay a gardener to keep all the flowers in check. Would it be awful to take out half the gardens flowers and replace with grass? It is 0.8 acre so a very big garden and our children would much prefer all turf to play football etc. It would feel almost criminal to do it but we don't want the upkeep - they also have a large rose garden which we would rather take out and have a vegetable garden. Is this all just too much?! It is the only house we like in our ideal location. It must be a full time job to look after it!!

Then it wasn’t the house for you. Not really.

I once lived in a beautiful house. For work reasons had to move. It had fantastic features.
The philistines we sold it to spent money destroying it. They too sold it, but I will hazard a guess for far less than if they had kept true to and understood the property. They tried to change it into something it simply wasn’t. When I looked online it was like looking at something that had been vandalised.

Please do keep the gardens. If they are as good as you say. Our old gardens were trashed. All the fantastic roses pulled up I dare say because they were too much work. They really really were no work at all. Just fantastic to look at. Now looking online ( when they sold) bare lawn with a few dull shrubs.

It wasn’t good.

oh I couldn’t do this .
i love a beautiful garden and I’d budget for help in the garden .
It might not be the work you imagine as some plants , shrubs and trees are only some seasonal/ lower maintenance

oh OP, I have just seen the pictures and I would change a lot of that if it were mine. The topiary would go or be grown out, manicured lawns would go and i would make it a lot easier to care for but over about 4 years. Absolutely do not underestimate how much that would cost to completely remove and lay turf. Round me that amount of money would pay for basic maintenance gardening for quite some time!

Same! I’ve turned my new build garden into a cottage garden and have all sorts of pollinators and wildlife living in my garden (we even have a family of Squirrels who visit daily to check out my Dahlia corms). I adore gardening and can’t imagine anyone not enjoying it? But that’s shortsighted of me I suppose.
When I see these rendered white & grey boxes with gravel where the gardens used to be, it hurts. My grandmothers wonderful, beautiful front & back gardens that used to be filled with colour are now gravel. 💔

I would buy it, leave the garden in situ but let it go a bit wild. It will probably be amazing for the kids. My grandma had a huge slightly wild garden (she kept the area near the house under more control than the rest) and we cousins all had a wonderful time out there climbing trees, playing imaginary games and hide and seek - much more fun than a plain lawn!

Personally, if I thought somebody had ripped out my well curated roses, that have taken me years to grow, I would haunt them.😂👻

But more seriously, you are right: some of the replies on this thread are a sad statement as to why we are where we are as a society.

Of course no-one can stop her destroying it if she buys it, but why would you become intent on a property that required such destruction of something both beneficial to the environment and beautiful.

It’s a shame but I think just buy it and let things die off gradually while you sort the house first so most of the creatures living in it move on. You can’t assume the next buyers would cherish and nurture it.

I once viewed quite a nice house which was open every year as part of the Open Garden scheme. We did not buy it for that reason. Too much focus and if we wanted to take a few weeks off from the garden, or if it declined somewhat we would have felt bad. That being said, it is your house, so it is yours to do with as you wish. We have a relatively large lawn and have turned some over to a wild meadow ( turning it over and seeding it with local natural meadow seed. This looks lovely and is also less work when you are busy.

It is your house and you can do what you like with it.
Do factor in that it may reduce property price.
Also, a gardener is not as expensive as you might think if you keep some of the garden.
I would also say - if you do buy it, throw it open to 'come collect a plant' to locals and see how much people will willingly come and remove for you for free. I am busy scavenging plants at the moment.

Sorry OP I just saw the topiary ..now that will be time consuming but oddly enough the rest won’t be as bad as you imagine

Have you talked to their gardener? He might like some of the plants and know how to remove them so they survive.
If you really are going to remodel it.. he may have ideas to make it more manageble and suitable for children and keep some of the great areas but more managable..

Put it this way. The house was probably valued on the basis that it had a showcase garden. It will be lovely to sit out there in the summer surely?

Would you actually be devaluing the house if you pull it all out? I think you should do some AI visualisations of what your house will look like if you do this to the garden.. it might make a big difference and you may not like it. eg.. I hate to see bare fences and unshaded gardens. They canlook awful in the winter. What do your kids think? Would they be willing to help with some of the tasks.

I'm guessing you wouldn't pull it all out yourselves, it sounds like a huge job.

I think you should do some AI visualisations of what your house will look like if you do this to the garden.. it might make a big difference and you may not like it. eg.. I hate to see bare fences and unshaded gardens. They canlook awful in the winter. People do say

maybe you could employ to gardener on a reduced basis.. I'm sure you and DH could manage some of the less time consuming jobs like mowing the lawn. And gardener would be there for advice, whilst you think about the best way to deal with it.

From a post above: if I was a neighbour though would I judge you? hell yes!

It wasn't a house that I had, but a relative, and it was in a nature-rich area - a dream area for many - with mature trees, little rivers, lots of birds, and so on. The neighbours absolutely judged new owners on the basis of what they saw of the changes in (and less upkeep of, as previously it was a labour of love) the garden. It shouldn't be so, but it might be best to think that could be a possibility.

This is the perfect response.

If the op buys it, then its her garden

Have just seen the pictures. I honestly could not wrench that garden up. To put lawn down for football.

It is so good you could open it up for guests who would pay to go round it a few times a year. That might help with gardening costs.

It really was not the right house for you. It would be a travesty to ruin that. I cannot think you would seriously consider it.

Of course you can do whatever you want to the garden and it will change - whether it’s you or another buyer.

I have taken out plenty of things I dislike in my garden and house.

But it would be sensible to offer the plants to other people as they cost a lot to buy. If you buy the house then get on the local whatsapp group and offer the plants for free. Best to dig things up in the autumn with as much root system as possible.

OP I'm a professional gardener.

The gardens you picture in those photos are the kind of gardens I create and tend for people who want low maintenance.

The crowded planting means no weeding.
The hedges and shrubs need pruning once or twice a year. You could pay a gardener for a couple of days of work a year to do this.

The flower borders you have will just need a simple chop once or twice a year. Your gardener could do that. If I came in to do your topiary, hedges and borders for a couple of days it would charge you about £180 a day. I'm in the South West and am not the cheapest gardener here by far.

Whilst your children are young you might well want lawn. You could ask someone to create this for you, but perhaps a small area of garden - just enough for play. I'd strongly advise against taking the whole garden to grass for three reasons. Firstly most onerous and repetitive task in any garden is mowing. Week in, week out from March to pretty much December now. On a big scale this is a morning's work for someone every weekend/every other weekend.

Secondly, your children will only be ball mad age for a short time. When they and you are older you will almost certainly prefer looking at beautiful borders rather than mowing away 25% of your weekends. It would cost you an absolute mint to replace borders of that quality. If you just create a bit of lawn now then when your children grow out of it you'll be able to replace it with something else. More veg beds perhaps?

Thirdly, that garden will be buzzing with wildlife. Your children and you will love seeing the year play out....birds nesting, bathing in the bird bath, toads, hedgehogs....honestly, it will be a joy.

Being really blunt, there is no such thing as a no/low maintenance large garden.
Even a small yard of chippings needs weeding regularly.

If you really don't want to garden then a big garden is a bad move when you are working and young children take up so much of your time. On a long term basis it's a nightmare. Most of my work is for people whose gardens have become too much for them, older people who now have to find a way to afford me every fortnight. The pressure and worry on them is a burden I wouldn't wish on anyone. Really think about this before making a rotten rod for your own back.

of course you’ll own the house so you can do what you like. But there’s no such thing as a low maintenance large garden. Turfing it will be hugely expensive and then you’ll have to mow it constantly. Veggies take work too. It’s just too big of a garden for you so you’ll want help with it regardless. So personally I’d be looking for a middle ground - get someone out to tell you which bits are low maintenance and leave those in, maybe create a bit more open space for the kids to run around or a play set or whatever and enjoy what’s left. So many plants are hard to establish and then no work at all so you might find a lot of this is much easier without messing with it.

Just looked at photos and can see what you mean if the garden is like those - but a lot of those plants are self maintaining/self re-seeding and are plants that either are or could be replaced with hebes, azaleas, rhodos, choysia (all plants we leave alone for years without touching, but are glorious when in flower).

There is no reason why you can’t clear sections back each year and take your time and if it gets a little wild in the first few years, that may not be a terrible thing. But I’d not panic in the first instance. I’d send you pictures of mine but can’t do it via PM.

ps We inherited a lot of roses. We ignore them and deadhead them in the autumn. They still seem to thrive - some plants are best if not over-tended, I reckon!

There's a derelict mansion near me that has been empty since the end of WW2, from a gardeners point of view i love working out where all the yew hedges would have been from the massive yew trees that are there now, and picturing the fountains, glass houses and walled gardens from the remains. It is like Jumanji, a truely magic place to go for a walk (ahem trespass!!).

Large well planted gardens with a good selection of shrubs and trees left to go wild can be very cool!

I sense that deep down OP, you know you cannot destroy this which is the only thing stopping me posting "Are you out of your mind??"

Appalled by some of the replies on here.

I meant to add that the example photos you posted are of a garden that will literally need nothing doing during the summer months. From about April to September it will tend itself. Established perennials like this don't even need watering. The biggest job would be the lawns between the borders. Weekly/fortnightly mowing. Other than that there will honestly be nothing to do.

How are you going to keep a vegetable garden going if you don't garden? They don't weed or grow without being tended preferably daily. Roses are much easier to deal with.

We bought a house like this (except it’s 5 acres). Managing the actual flower beds takes very little time. I do a day of pruning once in the spring. Maybe a few hours of weeding throughout the whole year. Flowers and shrubs grow to fill spaces so weeds don’t grow. It pretty much maintains itself.

Do you know what takes all my time and is an absolute ballache? The vegetable garden and the lawn. Keep the beds. They will be the easiest and lowest maintenance option.

Vegetable patches are a lot more work that ordinary gardening!

I’ve spent 3 years taming a previously much loved garden by previous owner and planting loads of stuff. We are going on the market and this morning I have taken out and potted up 2 acers, 2 roses and 2 clematis, all recently planted. I’m expecting someone to take out the greenhouse and raised beds too. I’ll leave a few roses but my recent ones are coming.

It would be really sad to take it all out . I think buy it and decide to give it a year to see what happens as a lot will just do its own thing and the reality may be different to your expectation. Make a decision after that, maybe after exploring swapping a bit of space for someone to grown veg in return for some garden maintenance.