Watching Le Tour, Julie and I have been fascinated to observe the lack of gardens - flowers - in France. Plenty of green fields, large and medium trees, but not a garden to be seen anywhere. Especially the grand chateaus - not a single flower.
A friend of mine told me that is the same in America. He said in the US there are very few gardens, but they appear once you cross into Canada. Don't know if that's true or not.
Of course there are always famous gardens, but it is interesting to see how common they are in houses, suburbs and towns. In Australia there are lots of gardens in the wealthier suburbs - some suburbs are spectacular and worth driving around. Rarely in inner-city, but even there you will get the token flower shrubs. Poorer areas tend to have a single conifer if anything, or maybe a privet - it amazes me how no one will ever cut down privets, but they'll destroy everything else.
