[spaceman77]

On a slightly related note I used to maintain highly manicured gardens for people in wealthy neighborhoods. A lot of these people were anal-retentive WASP's that scowled from their high perch as they surveyed a neighbors over-grown garden. They especially liked my leaf-blower because I could get all their hard surfaces perfectly clean. Many of them would also not hesitate to let me know I missed blowing a few pine needles. That job started to make me neurotic after a few years.

[brc]

Look I've got a yard and gardens. I enjoy a well cut lawn and tidy hard surfaces (though prefer a straw broom to a leaf blower). There's a lot of reward for creating a tidy home and surrounds, particularly if you spend much of the day in front of a computer.

I think some people just like tidiness. You don't have to be of any particular persuasion to enjoy a well cared for garden.

[cma]

What's interesting is that it isn't a new phenomenon; Veblen wrote about our strange lawn-care fetishism in The Theory of the Leisure Class in 1899.

[jackvalentine]

Sayed Kotb also commented on it after his visit to the United States in the 1940s, considering it a vulgar preoccupation.

For all his many faults, I feel he was on to something there.