Gnome From Home in the Garden

Image taken by author. 

There is a larger variety of garden ornaments available today than ever before. Gnomes, with their brightly colored hats and clothes, still do number amongst them. Although they do not, perhaps, enjoy the same level of popularity that they once did.

Still, undaunted, gnomes try to keep abreast of the times and today the more traditional looking gnome might share the garden, with a gnome who carries a mobile phone or laptop computer. If the gardener responsible for choosing the gnomes is of more unorthodox tastes, visitors to his garden may even be greeted by a gnome in a long Mac that flashes at them and he might just have a friend that moons them while he does it.

Yes, modern gnomes can have attitude. But whether you prefer your gnome to be brandishing a fishing rod or something else, they do add a little life to the garden. Gnomes are here, they are here to stay, and they will not be pushed aside by any amount of ceramic Buddha or cement squirrels.

But just how long have they been here?

The first gnomes arrived in Northamtonshire in the 1840s. They were imported from Nuremberg by Sir Charles Isham, who used the little fellows to hold down the place names on his dinner table.  The squire began to suspect, however, that the gnomes were putting his guests off their food.
   
No longer welcome at the dinner table, the gnomes were then moved out into the garden. Once they were safely out side, though, the squire thought that they painted a forlorn picture, so he then decided on another first: he imported some Japanese bonsai trees and used them to create a forest for his gnomes to shelter in.

Today only one of the original gnomes remains. His name is Loopy and in 1997 he was insured for £1 million. Which is a lot of money for a piece of clay.

Fortunately, the gnomes at your local garden centre will be considerably cheaper. Although these days they will more probably be made out of cement or plastic. Next time you visit your garden centre, you might even consider giving a gnome a home. They are meant to bring good luck, you know.

So just avert your eyes from that Cowardly Concrete Lion and the Garden Scarecrow; click your heels together three times and say: “There’s no place like gnome.”