Grand garden with topiary in England.
Garden in Montreal, Canada.
Problem
The English and the Americans are 'divided by a common language', said somebody. I think it was Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, at least he commonly gets the credit for saying it.
Gardening is one of the top hobbies in the UK, hence the number of magazines you see in the newsagents and the number of books and TV programmes, plus of course the Chelsea Flower Show in summer in London, England. London has many parks and gardens. The suburbs are full of near rows of suburban gardens with carefully tended front gardens. At night foxes run across the road, as do cats, which are nocturnal and let out at night through cat flaps.
If you chance to be invisted to have tea in the garden, do accept. It might seem a cheap outing, less interesting than seeing the sights, but it will give you an insight into how the British live and think. Watch waht you say, even when giving compliments.
In the back garden
Americans say back yard. "I like your back yard," would be said by an American visitor to a British host.
I remember being shocked and affronted, insulted, when an American visitor said that to me years ago before I went to the USA and got used to American terminology.
Yards
Why does it sound insulting? Firstly, it implies the garden is tiny. Modern English townhouses, like the terraced houses in the East End of London, Watford, and many early industrial estates with housing for workers, have tiny gardens.
Contrast this with a vast continent like the USA. The garden of a modern townhouse in London is unlike the American properties where everything is huge. As the Americans say, "We've got bigger ones in Texas".
Secondly, a yard has no plants, only paving. It is a storage and junk area. You might have and refer to 'a junkyard'. Most respectable people would not have a junk garden.
In the UK a backyard is a small area behind a small shop or tiny 'two-up two-down', two bedroom terraced house. A paved area with a wall and plant pots would be called a patio.
Gardens
An area with lawn and trees and flowers is a garden. In the UK we have national gardens day. when gardens are open to the public. Nobody has a backyard day. Who would bother to see somebody's back yard, with piles of boxes, tools and machinery and probably rats?
So, now you know. When visiting England, you might enjoy tea in the back garden. Don't bother to ask to see the back yard.
I thought that National Gardens Day was British, and only British. However when I googled it, up came information on the USA.
Don't leave your car too long. (Picture from Gardens, Montreal.)
Bukit Timah Gate, one of the entrances to Botanic Gardens, Singapore.
Set off to explore in Singapore.
BOTANIC GARDENS MRT underground station, Singapore.
Tree mural in Botanic Gardens MRT.
Wikipedia has this to say;
National Public Gardens Day, occurring annually on the Friday before Mother's Day, is a day to promote awareness of botanic gardens, arboreta, zoos, historic gardens, or any of North America's public gardens. The day was established by the American Public Gardens Association, a Pennsylvania non-profit organization that supports, resources and promotes public gardens in North America.
Gardens To Visit Worldwide:
Most cities have public gardens free to enter and some paid for attractions.
MADEIRA
Gardens, Funchal, Madeira
SINGAPORE
Botanical Garden, Singapore (free).
Walk in from Botanical Gardens MRT train station alongside.
Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.
Two huge conservatories one with seasonal displays and gardens of the world, the other with a giant multi-storey waterfall and walkways - a half or full day with timed tickets.
Outside is a free riverside walk with numerous plaques explaining the facts and fiction associated with trees and bushes and flowering plants.
Useful Websites For Travellers
National Trust
English Heritage
https://www.facebook.com/NationalPublicGardensDay/ (American gardens)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Public_Gardens_Day
Author
Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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