Our gardens are vanishing before our very eyes. It's not just the flowers we'll miss.

Front gardens, especially, will soon be a thing of the past. All gone for car parking.

One of the small pleasures of walking through the village when we first moved here was admiring the front gardens, especially the old-fashioned cottage gardens. Behind their hedges and little Victorian gates were a riot of roses, honeysuckle and hollyhocks. On a warm day the scent of wallflowers was almost overwhelming.

On fine days the gardeners would be working away or sitting on benches with a cup of tea ready to chat to any passers by. The gardens weren't just pleasant to look at, they were part of the social glue that helped people get to know their neighbours.

Now all the old men have swapped gardens for the graveyard. The gardens have gone for gravel. Not many people walk through the village. And not so many people know their neighbours.

Young couples have bought the cottages and smartened them up. Understandably, mostly have two cars and need somewhere to put them.

Gates, gardens, hedges and rosebushes have all gone.

Towns and cities are worse. Whole neighbourhoods exist with hardly a plant at the front.

The road where I lived in Oxford years ago was famous for its lilac trees – wonderful free aromatherapy when I walked home from work on late spring evenings. Now there's not one left.

In the next road the houses have gone as well.

All knocked down and replaced with blocks of apartments and old wild gardens replaced with electronic barriers, Tarmac and white lines and allocated parking spaces. Very swish. But not as nice to look at.

Ironic, really, just when you need more greenery to absorb the traffic fumes, there's less space because of all the traffic…

We've done the same, of course. When both boys got cars we had to hack off a chunk of the small front garden so we could manoeuvre in three cars. Better than annoying the neighbours by parking on the road.

But I kept the honeysuckle and lots and lots of daffodils and some tubs.

In the days when people liked to keep up appearances the front garden was always the showpiece. At the back you grew veggies and had a bit of grass for the kids to play, but the front was, in a way, for everyone to enjoy. Your present to passers-by.

It's still a treat to spot a well-kept and beautiful garden. In a busy world it can really lift the spirits if only for a moment or two.

But you'd better make the most of them while you can.