Is a garden essential?

[AsianDragons]

do you need a garden for your house

[Rebasepoiss]

I think gardens are overrated, at least in the North-European climate where I live. We get 9 months of shitty skiing weather (as we call it ) and then 3 months when a nice day might occur from time to time. Not worth the cost and effort, IMO.

A mini balcony garden in an apartment might be quite nice, actually. I have never had one, though, so I don't know how much I would use it.

[Jan]

Balcony yes, garden no. That's what city parks and gardens are for.

[tpe]

For a town mansion/hôtel particulier, a walled garden is a beautiful luxury.

Else, a residence is best situated next to a public park or a semi-private square.

[tpe]

And a garden of a town manison need not be extensive or elaborate. But it must be in keeping with the scale and style of the house.

The walled garden of the hôtel Lambert is Paris:

[Suburbanist]

A garden, itself, no. But some large (enough), open, uncovered, not shadowed space, yes.

[tpe]

That’s Some Key
How Do You Get a Key to Gramercy Park?



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/re...anted=all&_r=0

Excerpt:

THERE are 383 aspirational keys in circulation in the Big City, each of them numbered and coded, all of them equipped to unlock any of four wrought-iron gates offering privileged access to undisturbed siestas or tranquil ambulation inside the tree-lined boundaries of Gramercy Park. At age 181, the only truly private park in Manhattan is lovelier and more ornamental than ever; yes, the colorful Calder sculpture swaying blithely in the breeze inside the fence is “Janey Waney,” on indefinite loan from the Calder Foundation...

[tpe]

A street is the only thing that separates my condo building in Chicago with North Pond in Lincoln Park:


Art by Carrie

And in Manhattan, I simply cross the street and I am here:

[Suburbanist]

Shared-owned private gardens looks like a cool solution that allows multiple uses of a nice space, while keeping the problems normally associated with these places (panhandlers, drug users, homeless, rowdy teens littering and putting graffiti) mostly out.

I just think that solution is not much feasible on the political side: if many nice and cosy parks were private, there would be some outcry about opening them for everyone's use.

[tpe]

Originally Posted by Suburbanist

Shared-owned private gardens looks like a cool solution that allows multiple uses of a nice space, while keeping the problems normally associated with these places (panhandlers, drug users, homeless, rowdy teens littering and putting graffiti) mostly out.

I just think that solution is not much feasible on the political side: if many nice and cosy parks were private, there would be some outcry about opening them for everyone's use.

I agree. A private garden/square is the ultimate urban luxury.

There are a few townhouse blocks left in Manhattan (primarily in the Village and Uptown) that have a completely shared private garden at the very center of the block. Beautiful spaces, although none of these buildings are skyscrapers.

In Chicago and in NYC, they have been very strict the past few years at imposing the curfews in the public parks. A co-worker of mine was arrested and had to go to court for walking inside Prospect Park in Brooklyn late one night...

[Suburbanist]

Park curfews are somehow the unintended consequence of stretched out police budgets + lawsuits when something happens.

[tpe]

Originally Posted by Suburbanist

Park curfews are somehow the unintended consequence of stretched out police budgets + lawsuits when something happens.

In Chicago, there is a sense that many of the curfew strictures in Downtown and the Northside are put in place specifically against homeless people. Hence, Downtown Chicago looks more "pristine", with all the homeless literally driven out.

A few years ago, there was even some strange law imposed that essentially barred anyone from getting close to the huge hot air exhaust vents beneath the "ground"-level streets in the Loop, which were popular with the homeless during winter.

[VelesHomais]

I've never had a garden, but it's probably something that I could get interested in, given enough free time. I like the idea of recreating nature on a much smaller scale in a finely landscaped small piece of land.

[ikops]

I would probably neglect it.

[Eric Offereins]

I don't need a garden, but a balcony to have some private outdoor space would be fine.

[tpe]

A rooftop garden is a good compromise.

The penthouse garden of 1125 Fifth Ave. on the UES, NYC.

[Disturbing Reality]

a decent pocket garden with few low maintenance ornamental plants, pebbles and maybe an antique jar or figurine is fine.. For the most part, I really couldn't care less..

[tpe]

Something as small as what one will find in a typical Kyoto machiya will do just fine:



But in a skyscraper setting, something like this would probably be near the entrance or in the lobby, as a shared space.

[Jonesy55]

I'd say it's essential if you like gardening, otherwise not, though it's nice to have a bit of private outdoor space to sit out in the sun, have a barbecue and where kids can play unsupervised.

My children would probably last about 10 minutes on an apartment balcony before plummeting to their deaths while fooling around with each other!

[CharlieP]

I have a semi-detached house with a large garden at the rear and a small lawn at the front - it's nice to have space rather than live cheek-by-jowl with my neighbours, but on the flip side it's a pain to maintain them in the summer.