Lawn Gnomes – An Object Of Love And Ridicule

Lawn gnomes – you either love them or hate them. When it comes to these little creatures in pointed hats and wielding fishing poles while standing in someone's garden, it is a matter of extreme dislike, of shame or of pride. Some people simply abhor these garden gnomes while some surreptitiously collect and guard their collection where nobody will see them. Others display their set for everyone to see, never mind what other people have to say about their gnomes.

The subject of garden gnomes is a touchy point for a lot of people. People even get into heated discussions over them. If you want to know whose fault is that, you can lay the blame on the door of Phillip Griebel, a German ceramics maker who first crafted them in the mid-1800s. Mr. Griebel got the idea from local lore where gnomes are said to work in gardens at night while the owners of these gardens lay in their beds.

From Mr. Griebel's workshop, the garden gnome became a ubiquitous installation in the gardens of Europe. It found its way to the United Kingdom when Sir Charles Isham brought a whole lot of them from his trip to Germany. The popularity of the garden gnome has not waned since then, and they are now made using various materials, from traditional terracotta to plastic.

A Subject of Controversy

Popularity aside, garden gnomes are not without its distracters. For instance, the organizers of the Chelsea Flower Show have permanently banned the display of these creatures despite the fact that the garden gnome is a regular fixture at almost any English garden. Of course, garden gnome lovers have taken offense to that.

The garden gnome is also the object of pranks, the most popular of which is called "gnoming" or taking the gnome back "into the wild." Gnoming pranksters would "kidnap" a gnome from its owner's garden and demand ransom money from the owner. Or, they would send the gnome on a cruise or on trips to various destinations, with photographs of the gnome with famous landmarks on the background sent back to the hapless owner. And then there are organizations like the Italian Garden Gnome Liberation Front, whose members simply "persuade" the garden gnome to run free.

Owners of these "lost" gnomes would, of course, be only too willing to get their beloved gnomes back. After all, they are considered part of the family. It does not matter if these gnomes are totally oblivious in how they are being treated, as long as they keep the poses they were put into and the pastimes they were made to enjoy.

It really matters little whether you love yard gnomes or not. It may be something you love or something that you think is absolutely ridiculous, garden gnomes are here to stay. They will never, ever go away.