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Threatening Gardens

© Kirk Johnson

One of my earliest articles was entitled Jardins Communicants. It was about the North American tradition of having all of the front yards in a neighborhood joined together by each house having a front lawn which would form an unbroken stretch of lawn for the length of a city or town block. The French gently tease the Americans by calling this style of garden "jardin communicants".

While this is one of the most attractive garden design traditions ever developed, it does require individual homeowners to sacrifice their individuality for the visual harmony of the neighborhood.

In my earlier article I pointed out that in the latter half of the 19th century people actually lived in their front yards while most back yards were more utilitarian, but social customs changed during the 20th century. I was born in 1953 and I have always lived in a society were most front yards have been unimaginative expanses of lawn with some shrubs and maybe a tree. In many communities their are laws which demand this design approach. The idea is that having the front yards of an entire neighborhood forming a unified garden will enhance the value of every home in the neighborhood.

Many homeowners feel threatened when one of their neighbors landscapes their front yard in an unconventional manner. This is understandable, since for most people their home is their major investment.

I have been friends with Traute Kline, the feature writer for Suite 101's Natural Health topic, for many years. In 1998 Carol Wallace, the feature writer for Suite 101's Virtually Gardening topic, published an article entitled Paradise Lost - the Tyranny of Conformity Revisited. Please read this article, both to see the nightmare that can result when people feel threatened by an unconventional style of garden in their neighborhood and to read the updates that Traute has recently posted in the discussion area for Carol's article. It looks like Traute's nightmare will have a happy ending.

I have mixed feelings about the sort of laws that caused Traute's horrifying experience. I live in a rural area which has always allowed people to do whatever they want in their gardens. The nearest town to me - the village of Port Orford on the southern Oregon coast - considered having laws requiring that people have tidy front yards, but the community rejected the idea. The result is that some homes have front yards that look like city dumps.

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