Chapter 2 "Lawns V. Gardens"

This observation really has to deal with a much larger issue of "space" but it's something that is affected by it. In Canada, almost everyone who has at least a semi detatched home, has a lawn. That concept in England is pretty much unheard of. I'm not saying that no one has a lawn, but really, unless you live in a giant house, you don't. Most people have converted their front lawns into gardens because it would only be about 2 mins to mow the lawn, no more then a 10X10 area. Others have gone a less appealing route but possibly more effective by simply concreting their entire front lawn into a driveway. The gardens however small they may be, are absolutely stunning. A various array of daffodils, perennials, chrysanthemums, scabiosas, nasturtiums, cosmos and last but not least, candytufts. My fave is daffodils.
Either one (lawn or garden) is very personal to the country it represents. Without the rain and warmer climate of England, I don't think most of these flowers would survive. I mean the climate in Canada is so various, I think it only stays warm for about two months, the other 10, everyone is wondering if it's getting warmer or colder.
Lawns on the other hand, are amazing things when the fall comes and you must rake the leaves. Just pile them up and then have kids jump in them, only to rake them again. It makes me laugh thinking of if England had all lawns, some man mowing his lawn for 2 mins at a time or some kid jumping in a pile of 15 leaves only to twist his ankle. But on the other hand, a 2 acre garden would be quite the spectacle. I remember as a child I used to make money mowing lawns for people around my block. Maybe kids around here make money planting flowers and laying soil.

As I noted earlier, this has to do with a much larger issue, space. If anyone were to look at a map, you can clearly see that the entire U.K could fit inside Canada a few times over. Yet the populations of these two countries don't reflect that. Up until last year, the population of all of Canada was 32,378,122 with Ontario holding roughly one third of the entire population. On the other hand, the population of the United Kingdom was 59, 834, 300 with England having 4/5ths of that. That's almost double the population in well less then half the space. With population increases and land becoming increasingly more expensive, I dread to think of that number now. Where all these people are fitting, is beyond me. Maybe people are just getting smaller.

- Marsha B