Look at the front gardens in a typical suburban street and you're unlikely to be surprised by much. Tidy little lawns and hedges, a few prim flowers, perhaps a well-kept wooden fence. You probably barely notice unless it's in a poor state - or there's something eccentric like a stone fountain. "Why would anyone have that eyesore?" people probably tut as they walk by.
Author
- Rachel Lauwerijssen
Researcher in Green Infrastructure, University of Manchester
The other thing you're very likely to see is the owners out doing the gardening. Many will surely be out as I write, doing some final manicuring before autumn sets in.
This is fun for gardening enthusiasts, but most of us with front gardens make them boring more out of social pressure than personal choice. They may say our homes are supposed to be our castles, but we treat our front gardens more like they belong to someone else.
This applies across cultures. In recent years, it has been demonstrated by several studies in the UK and US , as well as in my research in the Netherlands.
I interviewed 20 older adults for my 2024 study about their relationship with their gardens. They all lived in the small cities of Breda and Tilburg, about halfway between Rotterdam and Antwerp. When I talked to Josje and Kees, a couple living in the suburbs of Breda who had the luxury of a front and back garden, Josje told me:
Our garden was green, but maintaining it was an obligatory thing … What you did is mowing the lawn and other amenities to keep it tidy, but not because you had green fingers.
This image of the "perfect" suburban front garden forces people into gardening even if they dislike it. As many as 70% of Dutch people have access to a front garden, and on average they spend 45 minutes per week looking after it. For many, these 45 minutes are clearly just a weekly necessity.
I also talked to Gerda and Willem, who lived on the same street, and Gerda's comments gave an insight into the social pressure that gets attached to front gardens:
The street has become more beautiful now that everyone is paying more attention to the garden and trying to keep it tidy - except for one.
Clearly you wouldn't want to be that person. And this isn't all about the middle classes. In a study in an economically deprived area in the north of England in 2021, one respondent said:
You don't want visitors to think you live in a dump, you don't want them to pity you … It gives you pride, not just in your house but in the whole area. It makes it look like your area has not just been left to rot.
The sense of community and social control is reinforced when neighbours greet one another in apparently throwaway comments. "Morning - nice weather for gardening, isn't it?" one of my interviewees said when he saw another outside. It's friendly on one level, but there's a subtext about moral duty as well.
The state of someone's front garden influences how others perceive you and your house. Tidy and manicured garden? You must be middle class and have a nice, tidy house. A garden full of weeds and dirt? You must be working class, antisocial or renting.
There is even stigma around relaxing in your front garden. A 2023 UK study , which did focus-group interviews with people from different social classes and parts of England, had a contributor who said:
I think sitting out the front, people would say either this person's got too much time or he's looking at the neighbourhood gossip.
What happens round the back
Back gardens are a whole different can of worms. These are spaces of privacy and self-expression, where homeowners are more likely to go rogue with their designs. If you're going to see cacti or palm trees, or statues or Japanese rock gardens, this is the place to look.
Among those who take biodiversity more seriously, you'll maybe see microhabitats like ponds, nests and insect boxes. Those who prioritise self-sufficiency are increasingly setting up greenhouses and allotment-style plots to grow and harvest seasonal vegetables.
Back gardens are where people kick back, talk to family and friends, and let the children play. It's where we're less likely to worry if the grass is a bit longer than usual, since there's probably tall enough fencing or hedging that the neighbours can't see what's going on.
Back gardens were particularly vital for restoring people and improving their wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic - for those lucky enough to have them.
So, if you want to know what a person is really like, check out their back garden. Although I should add, it is a little different in the Netherlands - where the culture is to usually have all curtains open, sending out a message that there's nothing to hide in this house. That may or may not impose a little more conformity than in other countries, but that's a research question for another day.
Rachel Lauwerijssen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
