They’re back!
Garden gnomes have been on the roller-coaster of popularity since they first popped up in the shade of a backyard birdbath, it would seem.
Originally called der Gartenzwerg — good-luck charms used by the miners of Nuremberg — garden gnomes are said to have been introduced to England in the 1860s by Sir Charles Isham, an eccentric aristocrat and spiritualist, who brought a cluster of the ceramic gnomes from Germany to his Northamptonshire estate.
Yes, the Victorians really loved their garden gnomes. (But then, what ornaments did the Victorians not appreciate?)
The little creatures gradually fell out of favour over the following decades, for reasons unknown… But they experienced a revival in popularity in the 1930s and ’40s — perhaps, as the Great Depression gave way to the rumbles of war, there was a sentimental longing for the lucky Gartenzwerg of happier days?
Gnome Sweet Gnome
Garden gnomes have been treated like doormats in the unfortunate decades since their last hey-day in the 1960s, so this piece seems appropriate — 20 bucks at Amazon, machine-washable, and ready for the Great Garden Gnome Revival.
During the Second World War, however, garden gnomes dropped out of sight. At that time, many pleasure gardens were converted to Victory Gardens for vegetable production “for the war effort” — garden art would have been a low priority…
Gnomes popped up again during the 1960s, a decade with a single-minded focus on conspicuous consumption and leisure. But by then the charming ceramic gnomes of olden days were increasingly replaced by cheap modern plastic or concrete figures, crudely produced and without the charm of the vintage gnomes.
Not surprisingly, garden gnomes gradually came to join the Garden Kitsch list right next to the pink-plastic-flamingo and fat-lady-bending-over. In recent years, garden gnomes have been nearly impossible to find in most retail outlets.
Now that trend seems to be changing, with a British Garden Gnome Revival, as reported by the Yorkshire Post magazine:
But now a light-hearted decision to stock them by [British superstore] Tesco has paid off as they have become their top-selling garden ornament since going on sale a month ago. Said Tesco gardening buyer Darren Atherton: “Like them or loathe them, gnomes are back and this year they could be making a reappearance in gardens all over Britain.
Organizers of the Royal Horticultural Society’s ultra-posh Chelsea Garden Show beg to differ. Gnomes have long been banned from Chelsea — they’re considered de trop and non-U, and not directly related to a garden, distracting the visitor’s attention from the plants and flowers…
The Royal Horticultural Society notwithstanding, I’ll go on record here and now as predicting that garden gnomes are on the road to a revival. Look out for creative innovation in gnome design, too, as artists re-interpret the little red-hatted garden icon for the landscape of the 21st century. Mark my words! Gnomes are going to be the Next Big Thing…
So, when the arbiters of taste from the Chelsea Show come to give me an award for my petunias (haha), tell them I’m busy — scoping out e-Bay for a deal on a vintage gnome who might like to spend his retirement in the Canadian countryside!
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