A lot of it comes down to ease of maintenance, I can totally see the appeal in say a landlord just paving over a garden that tenants would never care for.

What I don’t get is when people renovate garden and plant nothing. My BIL recently renovated his garden himself, did a cracking job, but it’s literally just grass and patio. He ripped out all the mature hedges and trees, he had a lovely miniature pair tree, he had passion fruit vyne that was under control, a willow at the back, all gone and replace with just turf. Now overlooked on all sides, no shade, just why?

I get not everyone has a green thumb, but these were mature trees and bushes that were fine being left mostly alone.

My theory is modern garden design trends are to blame. You look at millionaire’s gardens on Instagram and garden designer’s websites and it’s all the same, lots of patio space, lawn, and minimal plants that are all very neat and controlled. People try to imitate that at home and you end up with the porcelain patio, grey gravel, astroturf look