Outdoor Improvement Shows

I haven't watched much news programming today (or this weekend) but we did watch some home improvement shows this weekend.  I have a real issue regarding what they do with these yards.  Some of these transformations have some really amazing features in them.  Really gorgeous pavilions, outdoor kitchens, walkways, and much more.  And these are done in the front yard as well as the back yard.



The first thing that bothers me is that they are almost always done at homes are usually in cities or the suburbs of these cities.  What about the rest of the country?  I don't live in the suburbs or in the city.  Most of these transformations would only fix a small patch of my yard (either front or back).  Why don't they do a typical yard in a rural setting?


Next, I have a serious issue with the fact that a majority of these are done in warm climate states!  What about the rest of the country?  Don't you think that we want to see things that will work in our climates?  It would be nice to hear about how to set up a proper flower bed in a place like Central New York or perhaps northern Minnesota.  We like to have very nice looking yards as well.


Finally, I have a huge issue with one of the things that seems to be the trend.  Just about every yard that you see being renovated ends with everyone saying that the yard looks so much better than it did before.  But one thing is missing in almost all of them that I have seen in the last 5 years, grass!  Why is it that no one seems to want to have grass in their yard?  Having grass is one of the reasons that I always wanted to have a decent sized piece of property.  Cutting the grass and smelling the fresh cut grass is one of the best things during the summer.  Yet yard after yard is renovated to be mostly concrete, pavers, decomposed granite, or some combination of the three.  I just don't get the concept unless it just has to do with the continued growth of the laziness of Americans.  Most of these properties are 1/2 an acre or smaller.  Total time required to cut the grass with a push mower would be less than 30 minutes.  Why is that such a problem?


To satisfy more of the country with these shows, here are my suggestions.  Do the renovations in a variety of settings (meaning both urban and rural), in more places than Florida and California, and leave some grass!