Sheena Patterson of Oxford Garden Design takes a look at how the sexes differ in the garden

There’s a line in Alan Ayckbourn’s play Round And Round The Garden about praise. “If you are flattering a woman, it pays to be a little more subtle. You don’t have to bother with men, they believe any compliment automatically.” Over the years, I’ve found this to be powerfully true, particularly when it comes to gardens.

In the course of my work, I meet new people every week and visit numerous gardens around Oxfordshire. People get in touch for various reasons, but last Friday was a first for me... I met a real live Oxford Mail reader.

Granted, in itself that’s not too remarkable but this particular lady got in touch with me because she enjoys reading the articles I pen every week. Now I know beyond any possible doubt – there is at least one reader of my musings!

I hope that we’ll soon be able to do magic things to transform Barbara’s garden in Kidlington. The goal is to have it ready for her daughter’s wedding next August.

Barbara was particularly keen to have a woman to come and see her garden and, certainly through my professional experience in landscape and garden design, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a marked difference between the approach men and women take to gardening.

The kind of plants that we like to see in our gardens are different. I notice that blokes prefer hot colours over the pastels favoured by the fairer sex.

They like strongly architectural plants. Phormiums, Japanese maples,ornamental grasses, bamboos and red hot pokers are all typically male in character.

Plants that say it all with few words and bold gestures appeal to men. Sometimes this translates quite simply into a stripy green lawn with nothing else except the garden shed to be seen. A freshly mowed strip of turf says it all in a direct no-nonsense way.

I’ve noticed that women prefer scented, more subtle flowers. Granny’s bonnets, early spring bulbs, gorgeously scented lavenders and pale pink roses are more typically female.

Decorative touches like hanging baskets, and groups of containers are normally created by the lady of the house.

Women’s gardens tend to be a bit more arty and whimsical in character, with hidden areas to be explored and investigated.

A typical man’s garden tends to be all up-front. In other words, what you see is what you get.

Before I get rotten tomatoes hurled my way, I do realise that these are all sweeping generalisations and that, yes, there are men who lovingly tend their hanging baskets and some women who weed and feed their lawns regularly.

Also, there are commonalities. Vegetable patches are an example of what I consider to be unisex gardening. Quite rightly, both men and women take pride in producing home grown food.

However, even among the courgette and cabbage borders, I stand by my claim that the general overall approach between the sexes is different.

Men are far more competitive in what I can only describe as size-orientated way. Let’s face it, the person who produces the largest marrow is far more likely to be a man than a woman.

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