As for lowering my property value, believe me when i tell you that this is hardly a factor in around here, demand being what it is. This 100-year old (with one outlet per bedroom, and 5 on one breaker) 3 decker with no parking is estimated at almost 700,000, as is the one across the street (with a driveway) while the 100-year old smaller 3 decker with no parking and no real front yard (and trash barrels in the alley btwn the buildings) went for over 500,000, up from about 340,000 3 years ago. And who pay 1,900 rent for each 3 bedroom apt., even though this city has one the lowest income levels.
An old abandoned (family squabble i heard) 3 decker down the street that was so dilapidated that you could see the sky thru the roof, and with about 8 feet of land in the front and sides and maybe 15 in the back and no parking, was sold at auction for 349,000, and gutted, renovated and sold as condos for 350,000 for each of the 3. Yuppies bought them (who usually do not try to interact with the working class Latino neighborhood).
There, a front yard garden would actually look inconsistent with the new building, whereas having a front yard garden in this culture and class of buildings can be seen as positive thing. But this is not a bunch of pots laid around, nor is it some unkempt mass of weeds or plants which just sit there. It produces food for us and the neighbors, who overall have been very amiable and easy to get along with, thank God, while i read about some people in the suburbs having fights over grass clippings and leaf blowers!
To each his own. :)