Would a garden that was too nice put you off?

[BigDahliaFan]

Our garden is my pride and joy, but I think it would look hard work to some - it's not particularly big but there are trees, shrubs, perennials etc. Would that put you off buying it? Or would you just think 'I can always pave it over'.

I didn’t ’take out’ any trees. Two of them collapsed in a storm (not the same storm and over about 6 years). One because it had a massive hole in it (a self seeded sycamore) the other was a total surprise as it seemed totally fine (a mulberry tree). We did cut back the yukka plant. It’s still there. Hope that’s okay.

There are another 12 mature sycamores and lime trees - some in the garden, others surrounding it. So you don’t need to get sanctimonious about it. Plenty of wildlife with plenty of places to play in.
There’s nothing wrong with having a lawn or god forbid being able to use the garden.

Losing the sycamore changed the garden entirely because it got sunlight where it hadn’t before. Shockingly we didn’t cry when it fell. Nothing grew with it there and all we had was mud.

The mulberry tree offered shade and food for the birds, was very pretty in blossom and made the garden more woodland like than it now looks. we were sorry to see it go.

Judging by photos of houses being prepped for sale regularly posted on Mn, yes, some people do appear to prefer easy-care concrete with a patio set and (more mysteriously to me) completely bare fences.

My PIL have a beautiful garden - the sort of garden that only a retired couple can maintain, to be honest. I told them that their property listing featured too much of the garden and it would put people off - so far I’ve been proved right.

DH and I bought a house with a fairly easy to maintain garden, and we agreed that a bigger garden wouldn’t have been a barrier but we would have factored the cost of a gardener etc into the running costs of the house, until we worked out what we were doing.

A completely 'made' garden would put me off as I love gardening and am constantly replanting and redesigning my own garden. But I hate pulling out plants that are obviously happy and thriving, so a perfect garden would mean there was nothing I could 'do' to it!

It would be attractive to me, I love a mature, cottage style garden.

I live in an area though where many people buying the houses strip out the traditional trees and shrubs and replace them with sleek, modern pale paving and planters with lots of one plant. I can see it looks nice and modern but I miss the colour and variety.

Whoah, you’re reading a ‘sanctimoniousness’ into my posts that really wasn’t there. I didn’t say anything that expressed a judgement, as you’ll see if you reread it. You said ‘the second picture’ was what you’d done during your time in the house, and I was just asking which was which. Some people take out lawn and fill gardens with trees and shrubs, some do the opposite.🙄

I think that poster was asking which is the before picture? I wondered, too, because your post is worded like you bought the flat with the grass lawn and took 8 years to get it covered in trees and plants as in the 2nd photo.

I’d love it. All the pleasure and none of the hassle.

I’m a very keen gardener and a very aware of the work involved in caring for different kinds of gardens and I would definitely avoid a house if I deemed a garden to be too perfect and too high maintenance if it wasn’t entirely too my liking. I would hate to destroy or neglect somebody else’s dream garden and would feel like a vandal if I ripped out and started anew on something that may have taken years to create. I

@kirinmi think your pics posted backwards. Bravo for putting the trampoline right down the end. You’re my kind of neighbour!

We walked away from an otherwise lovely house that had extensive landscaped gardens where most people would have grass.

I don’t have time and I didn’t want to spend £500+ month on a gardener. The agent said we weren’t the first to not proceed after viewing due to the gardens.

As usual, 'it depends'. I certainly would love an established garden, BUT I might be put off if large trees cast shade over everything, or if I wanted to grow things myself and there wasn't easily available space. On balance though it would be more of a positive than a negative.

The pictures came up in the wrong order. We bought it when you couldn’t access the back of the garden because of overgrown weeds. We worked on it so it became useable but still had plenty of trees, rose bushes, apple trees, wild garlic etc. Just more functional.

My DP grew grass but it took years because of the shade, birds eating grass seed and foxes weeing on it.

I love a mature garden. Ours was fairly mature when we moved in 25 years ago and we've added to it over the years.
I always swipe right first when viewing on Rightmove. If the garden is overlooked, empty, plastic, paved or grey, I don't bother looking at the house.
I know of 2 people who have recently moved into properties with lovely gardens. Including fruit trees and a beautiful clematis covering an entire breaseblock garage wall, and the first thing they've done, is tear it all down and have just left it a mess for months.
It upsets me

I wonder this too for when we come to sell our home. We have quite a large wrap around garden. When we bought it it was all lawn and a complete mess. It's now split into different areas including a patio, lawn, vegetable garden and a swing set. It definitely looks more inviting but the weeding required in the front garden is relentless.

A much too large garden would put me off. The garden I have now is too big for me really. It has mature, huge scrubs and it needs alot of work. But once that's done it should be more manageable. But it's land and so worth a fortune. I often look at others in the street that are smaller but we are south facing and I just love the warmth.

I'm moving for a bigger garden. I love plants, flowers and greenhouses.
Some trees I don't like (old Christmas trees etc). My new abode has very expensive decking. I hate it so it's coming up. I prefer York stone and gravel.
When my DC were small I lived in fear of ponds.

I would love that! I've only ever bought houses with gardens which were just grass and I've had to landscape them myself, I dream of inheriting a mature garden!

No but we have created our garden which is nice and like having that so wouldn’t want a low maintenance one.

Saw a house with a very beautiful big garden. House ultimately wasn't quite right, but I'm still thinking of that garden.
Definitely a plus (and we have kids). They preferred it compared to flat grass as lots of places to hide/climb etc.

It wouldn’t put me off. The garden on a house is one of the easiest things to DIY and sort out to your own tastes when you move in.

The garden of my house was an absolute overgrown mess when I viewed it. A previous owner had been a keen gardener and had landscaped it and made it lovely. The people we bought from had never touched it, and let it go to ruin. However underneath all the mess I could see there was a potentially. lovely garden. I spent several weekends sorting it out, and making it more child friendly and low maintenance. It’s now a really nice garden. It also looked about twice the size by the time I had finished hacking away at it.

I had the vision to see what could be done with it, but other viewers may not have done.

We aren't selling but we have 4 apple trees and 4 plum. A fruit cage with raspberry, thornless blackberry, blueberry, some errant strawberries, black white and red current. And a small veg patch (which could be a bonfire area if preferred).

Then the lawn by the house.

I've often wondered if the fruit side of it would put people off. We live on the stuff!

@Feelingstrange2 definitely wouldn't put us off!
I remember as a child eating fruit from my grandparents fruit trees. Kids love that stuff 😂

That reminds me. My son had a birthday party at home and we lost one of his mates. He was found sat in the fruit cage munching raspberries!

A nice garden (ie plants as you describe) would always be a big plus for me.