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Is life nowadays all about image?

(9 Posts)
paddyann54 Thu 10-Sept-26 11:04:21

We had a wee going away do for a lovely young couple moving on to be closer to their jobs.
We asked the immediate neighbours who are a friendly bunch,most who have been here for 30+years.
They know I do the garden but none have ever been in the back garden.
I was surprised when a couple of folk said “your garden is stunning ,but why do you do it when nobody else sees it”?
It never occurred to me that their carefully coiffed front gardens were only done because people saw them .Now I,m wondering is that how a lot of people think are back gardens less important to you than the ones on show at the front?
And …is that how people live their lives? Is Whats on show the only important thing ?

Aveline Thu 10-Sept-26 11:09:27

Maybe that says more about the people who said that than people in general. Surely most people understand the satisfaction from creating and maintaining a lovely garden than just it's instagrammableness?

Jaxjacky Thu 10-Sept-26 11:15:27

I agree Aveline a very odd attitude indeed.
I don’t think our beige back garden desert impressed any friends or family we’ve entertained this year!!

nanna8 Thu 10-Sept-26 11:26:49

Some weird people around, aren’t there ? I do our garden for me, not for other people. Our back is better than the front because it is very big and I like to wander in it and usually pull out a few weeds as I go. The front is a bit neater because it is small and easier to manage. I guess we are lucky because it is very private here and you can’t see into our property unless you go down the driveway. No one overlooks us.

MartavTaurus Thu 10-Sept-26 11:37:32

My front garden is my show piece, and yes, I guess it's sort of for other people to see too. But I mean for them to enjoy and remember. There are some unusual flowers that people comment on. In fact, only last month I cut several offerings for someone who was doing the flower arrangements for her son's wedding and had admired what I have on view.

JenniRen Thu 10-Sept-26 11:40:21

Oh, our front garden is much more boring than the back.

The front looks worse now as some patches of green grass are coming through, some lawn weeds have survived but one area which was a grassy bank looks completely dead.

What to do with it?

Greenfinch Thu 10-Sept-26 11:43:21

Our front garden is behind a high hedge and so we have no image to project. !

JenniRen Thu 10-Sept-26 11:48:18

Firstly I must deadhead the pelargoniums in tubs at the front; this thread has made me feel guilty.

We obviously have no kerb appeal.

Kizzy1972 Thu 10-Sept-26 12:04:35

The only things that have survived in my North facing front garden are Box confused Not a bit of colour left anywhere. I need to have a rethink as we can't manage much these days anyway. It's tidy but not worthy of admiration or envy grin