At the risk of sounding my own trumpet, I might mention that the latest issue of the Rock Garden Quarterly (the NARGS journal) includes an article I wrote on "the public and private rock garden." It deals with the rock garden full of mostly simple plants I built near the road at my new house, and the one full of plants that might likely die on me that resides in the "back yard," next to the bulb house. The illustrations show a typical suburban American house lot (albeit double the size of most) complete with driveway the size of Delaware, probably installed by a previous owner to accommodate the boat and the motor home. I'm still thinking about what to grow on the driveway; George Schenk once wrote a book "Gardening on Hard Surfaces," but it's heavily inclined toward tropical climates. For the time being, the driveway is an excellent place to have mulch and grit dumped. At the moment, the driveway, the garden, and all associated spaces are covered in a daffodil's depth of snow and about a centimeter of ice. I'm catching up in the office and wishing I could watch the Olympics, but the TV satellite dish is, unfortunately, also glazed beyond its adaptive threshold. At least my internet is cable! After writing my initial post on this thread I wondered if the current use of "garden" for any open space around a house in Britain is a recent innovation accompanying the spread of suburban detached housing. There isn't much pre-19th-century British literature focused on the domestic conditions of the middle and working classes, so I don't know where one would look to find out what an artisan or a clerk, or their wives, called it. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA. waiting for the thaw At 08:54 PM 2/8/2014, you wrote: >Brian wrote: > > >>But, please, what is the U.S.A. English term for the British back yard???? > >I'm pretty sure there is no term for that in American English. The term >"yard" in California (and I think most of the US) means all of the lot that >is not occupied by the house, including the lawn(s), vegetable garden, >patio, swimming pool, lighted basketball court, barbecue, greenhouse, and >parking area for the motorhome.