• In the Garden

Monday, July 7, 2008

Home for a gnome?

posted by Terry OShaughnessy at 22h44

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The birdbath that tipped me over into full garden ornamentation. (Photo by Terry O'Shaughnessy)

It’s a question that must be asked at a certain point—and all gardeners must face it. It’s that lurking thought at the back of your mind. The one that says, sure, even though you’ve poked fun at them, and vowed to never EVER have one…..that maybe you really DO want a garden gnome after all.

Well, maybe not a gnome exactly. What I’m talking about is something a little more subtle than a plastic troll in red short pants and embarrassing hat. I’m talking about garden ornaments. You see, in spite of a long history of pooh-poohing garden gnomery and decorative grazing ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ sheep, I’ve arrived at the disturbing truth that I actually like garden ornamentation.

I used to firmly say that no garden of mine would ever have anything but flowers, shrubs or trees in it. But last summer, something began to change. During an end-of-season garden centre sale, I bought a stone rabbit with extra long ears and tentatively placed it behind a patch of daisies. Then at the dollar store, I bought a very un-dollar-store-looking sun dial painted with oak leaves and decorated a big tree stump with it. Finally, in the autumn a white sculpted birdbath arrived in my garden, compliments of a friend. It was so beautiful, I had to completely give up any previous vows to never have ornamental stuff in the yard.

Mind you, I’m not sure if this new laissez-faire attitude to garden decoration will ever extend to gnomes. But, now that I think about it, I'm not ruling it out either.