If you're planning to sell your home in the near future and don't have trees, shrubs and a paved patio area - pencilling in a few DIY weekends may be on the cards.

According to research conducted by UK's Halifax Estate Agents, these three features are what most buyers are looking for. The findings are intriguing because it flies in the face of modern home pedagogy.

If you take current TV shows as gospel - and I'm not sure why you would - then plantings need to be low maintenance, foliage species. Grasses, succulents and strappy-leaved plants have been the rage for almost a decade. We've been led to believe that people no longer enjoy gardening, or gardens. Therefore, the lie continues, we need to make our "outdoor spaces" as minimally imposing on others as we possibly can.

But, if this research is anything to go by then it seems that homebuyers are looking for houses with gardens more than minimalist outdoor spaces. Why? Because shrubs and trees are hardly low-maintenance. Certainly not as carefree as flax and cordylines, anyway.

They require regular fertilising, mulching, pruning and some even need frequent deadheading during their growing season.

Have homebuyers really seen the error of their ways? Or, are they just nostalgically romanticising the gardens they once grew up in?

Anyway...moving on.. Here are the winners in the features most homebuyers look for.
<h4>Must-Have Garden Feature Winners</h4>
<ol>
 	<li>63% of homebuyers are looking for homes with trees and shrubs</li>
 	<li>58% want a paved patio</li>
 	<li>57% want a garden shed or greenhouse</li>
 	<li>43% would like a water feature, and</li>
 	<li>42% like the idea of growing roses</li>
</ol>
People aren't just looking for the things they want either. There are a few items that many of them would rather not see in the garden. And here they are;
<h4>Things that shouldn't Feature in the Garden</h4>
<ol>
 	<li>67% don't want to see garden rubbish. Makes sense. Here's some tips to <a href="https://gardeningtipsnideas.com/2006/09/a_garden_maintenance_area_thats_not_an_eyesore.html">hide your garden maintenance areas</a>.</li>
 	<li>59% are turned off by dog and cat mess</li>
 	<li>43% said they want their privacy and don't like neighbours looking over the fence. Here's some gardening tips to <a href="https://gardeningtipsnideas.com/2007/03/creating_a_garden_screen.html">screen your backyard</a>.</li>
</ol>
Probably the most interesting statistic to come out of this research - for me anyway - was the opinion of having gnomes in your garden. 1 in 10 people said they would be attracted to a home with garden gnomes while 17% (nearly 1 in 5) admitted that it would be a turn-off. <a href="https://gardeningtipsnideas.com/2006/06/garden_gnomes_are_out.html">Interesting...</a>

<em>Source: <a href="http://www.diyweek.net/news/news.asp?id=10681&amp;title=Must-have+features+for+the+garden" target="new" rel="noopener">DIYWeek.net</a></em>