borders or not borders?

dilemma...given the choice, would you prefer a garden with borders (fence, trees, bushes, edges...) or just a flat garden , at the most with a row of flowers to border it, where the eyes can space garden after garden?
How much would this take from your privacy...?

I don't know, really, I think that: to look at, I would prefer no border (but of course it would have to be in a very nice area where there is no chance of children kicking the ball on it) but then, if one lives in the house it is different...what do you say?

 

Just a flat expanse could get pretty boring. A garden needs a third dimention,HEIGHT. My garden is sandstone walled on two sides and hedged on one side. The walls are gardens in their own right with numerous plants growing on them. The hedge is a mixture of Holly, Hawthorne, Lilac and Honeysuckle. We have various fruit trees round the edges of the garden. Open plan lawns look tidy but they're no fun.

 

I'll go for the first option Mira it keeps all the dross out.

 

Borders.
I don't like to go into my garden and see everyone else in theirs.
I have 6/8 foot hedges , trees & bushes all round my garden.

 

In many states in America, certainly Alabama and South Carolina and perhaps many other states (I think Florida and Texas are the same), it is illegal to "border" off your property, certainly you can not do so in the front and often not in the back.

I hated it ... one lawn runs into the next ... you keep yours nice ... they don't care ... the dogs run amok along with the kids ... a total nightmare for me.

In the back you are allowed chain link fence ... charming ... one neighbour of ours planted Leylandii illegally (before we moved there) ... that was a nightmare.

Privacy ????? what was that ????

I took up gardening when I moved back to the UK where I had a choice what I did with my garden.

Now I have total freedom what I do.

 

I like to know whats mine and where it starts and finishes.
These days most people seem to like more privacy than they did years ago, and I cant see anything wrong with that, its your choice.

Unfortunately the way they build houses these days, right on top of one another, its starting to look very "woody" and "fency" and confined everywhere.

Appartment blocks with communial gardens are becoming the norm.
Just wonder what these communial gardens might look like in a few years time, when the maintenence stops.

 

Pete, even in the States, it doesn't matter if you like your privacy now ... my nephew just bought a place in Florida a few months ago and you can't border anything off the front.

What I find odd is building VERY expensive houses with little land ???????

We have two communal properties ... in both instances the gardens are second to none ... at least here because it's law ... if maintenance stops ... you're in the Courts. Our IoW property was the same but that was a nightmare cost of �£2,000 per year ... guess why we sold it last year?

 

In my estate we're not allowed to have walls or fences between front gardens. I quite like it because I appear to be the only gardener around. All my neighbours can stretch to is mowing the lawn, so the estate looks lovely and tidy and the lack of borders makes the green areas look bigger.

I don't sit in my front garden, so I don't feel the need for privacy. However, the back gardens are a different matter. I have 6 ft fences around mine and feel secluded enough to sunbathe in it in the summer.

My only problem round the front is that my neighbours rarely mow their lawn to my standard. We originally had a system where I would mow both front gardens, then they would mow both. however, their mowing is more like hoovering. Randomly pushing the mower around and leaving tufts everywhere. I mow in nice straight lines. So now, if I hear their mower round the back, I usually run out and do all of the front.