Nothin’s Tacky in Baltimore, Hon! Garden Art 101

You all know I love gnomes, right?

But how many of you know I also love gazing balls and cloth napkins? I have decent collections of all three. Some people find gnomes and gazing balls tacky. With everyone being so green these days, I assume cloth napkins are in again and my collection isn’t so unusual. I assume the thought of washing a cloth napkin would deter their use for most.

My Mom would iron them and fold them perfectly…not in my house. We use them daily and they are always wrinkled (but clean). I might iron them for holiday meals.

I wouldn’t have a garden without gnomes or gazing balls and I wouldn’t serve a meal without cloth napkins. That’s just me. I guess some folks don’t appreciate their charm…or maybe…they just don’t know how to use them. Let’s look back in time and have a little history lesson and then learn about proper use and placement.

Gnomes first appeared in European folklore as do-good creatures that rewarded hard working farmers, merchants, and housewives with assistance in their fields, shops, and gardens at night. Sounds great, right? Now you want one…don’t you?

Gnomes are legendary and gnome mythology is centuries old. Early images show gnomes as gnarly old men with long white beards or as misshapen dwarfs, all characterized by their small size. In Germany, the gnomes (or dwarfs as they are known there) were often portrayed as miners. There is a theory that miners of small stature came from the island of Crete around 1,500 BC to dig for gold and silver in parts of Europe.

Dwarfs were often featured in German fairy tales, such as those told by the Brothers Grimm, and dwarf figurines were thought to bring good fortune to a home if placed in the house or garden. This is why they were adopted by so many German homes. The fantastic, fire engine red, pointed hat that we see on many garden gnomes today mimics the hat that was once worn by miners in the mountains of south-east Germany.

It was Englishman, Sir Charles Isham, who first displayed gnomes in the garden in 1849. He brought about 20 small figurines from Germany and placed them in a rockery in the garden at Lamport Hall, Northamtonshire, England.

If you are going to have gnomes, there are rules:

1. No lady or man gnomes bent over showing their britches – that’s just not right – unless you are in Amsterdam, where anything goes with gnomes – and I mean ANYTHING. I have images, but I can’t share those here.

2. No scary-faced gnomes. Let’s face it – some are downright frightening – like clowns to me. Keep them sweet and less Santa Claus-like.

3. Move them around. My kids love to move the gnomes. It’s a game we play. Moveable art is interactive and it’s a great way to get children involved in the garden. I love seeing where they put them.

4. Make sure they are secure because squirrels (my nemesis) knock them over, especially in the fall when they are burying acorns.

5. Have many. They make people chuckle (especially my friend Frank, who just won’t give in to their seduction…)

If you hide gnomes in groundcover plantings and under shrubs, people visiting your garden will happen upon them. Grouping them is fine, but I hear they like to work alone. Just don’t ever leave them sitting out in the middle of a bed or in the grass alone. They need shelter. Plus, you never know when a new version of the Gnome Liberation Army will pop up.

What? You don’t know about the Gnome Liberation Army?

These are groups of people who feel gnomes should live in forests and with other gnomes because that’s where they belong. They “borrow” gnomes and take them on trips to set them free from the slavery of your garden. They’ll even send you pictures of your gnome on his journey.

The most famous liberation took place earlier this decade from 2000-2003 in Paris, France. Thousands of gnomes were “liberated” from garden slavery and taken all over Paris, left in parks and on the side of the road in wooded clearings. Because of this, Le Jardin de Bagatelle, one of the most famous public gardens in Paris, had a display using two thousand gnomes in the silliest scenes, all over the garden. It caused quite controversy because this is a formal garden. Parisians didn’t quite appreciate the humor.

I sure did! I was lucky enough to be visiting the Rosarian there while I was on a trip to the south of France evaluating roses for The Conard-Pyle Co. It was surely the highlight of my trip. It was so much fun. Here’s an image of a gnome wedding on a raft.

Although there are no armies to liberate gazing balls from concrete pillars in the middle of a lawn (there should be…), gazing balls have a much more fascinating history and their historic uses are, well, quite useful.

In the 13th century, skilled craftsmen made gazing balls in Venice, Italy. They were hand-blown then just as they are today. Antonio Nier, a fifteenth century priest, called it a Sphere of Light and, as time passed, the colorful ball became a permanent fixture in the European garden and home. King Ludwig II, King of Bavaria during the 1800’s, adorned his palace, a replica of Versailles, with the globes.

Legends formed about the mysterious powers of the ball. A globe was said to bring happiness, good luck and prosperity to those who own it. The globe was known to ward off evil spirits, misfortune, illness and of all things, witches!

The ball is supposed to keep witches away but the methods vary. Some say the ball should be placed near the entrance to the house so that if a witch came to your house she would not be able to get past her reflection, as she cannot tear herself away from her own image. Smaller balls made of colored glass, as opposed to the reflective kind, were believed to attract and trap evil spirits. I wonder how you get them to rid your home and garden of these evil spirits?

I couldn’t find any literature about final disposal of said “evil” spirits. Yikes!

The gazing globe had practical purposes in southern gardens. Placed strategically by the path near the front gate, southerners could see from the veranda who was calling before the caller could see them, allowing plenty of time to prepare refreshments for their guest or to hide (I love this…) — whichever was fitting.

In Victorian times, the “Butler Ball” served as a mirror for servants to see when guests needed assistance without staring at them throughout the meal. Another practical use was in the foyer of the home. Parents could keep a close eye on their daughter and her date as he bid her goodnight.

I’d say these are quite practical uses for such fun, shiny spheres. Here’s how I use them, but again, there are rules.

Rules for gazing ball placement:

1. Hide them. No one wants to see your gazing ball on some silly concrete or ceramic stand in the middle of the grass. The element of surprise is wonderful in a garden, so make sure you can’t see the entire ball.

2. Don’t be afraid to place them on the ground. Most gazing balls now have rubber seals on their tips, so you can easily place them on the ground (I bury the tip in the mulch to keep them from rolling about) and leave them out all winter.

3. Secure them. I cried last fall when my favorite ball was smashed in the street into a million pieces after a bad windstorm.

4. Use them to reflect plants and surroundings – after all – that’s their purpose and they can even make your garden appear larger than it really is.

5. Move them around. Moveable art is in now. It is interactive and it changes things up.

6. Have balls for every season. I would never put out the candy- apple- red one in the summer – it clashes with everything, but boy-oh-boy does it look good in the middle of winter – especially with a little snow bonnet.

As for the napkins, there are no rules. Just use them. Eat at the dinner table, not in front of the TV or in the car on the way home. They make garden parties seem more formal. I love watching people who have never used one try not to stain them. They’re napkins people…wipe that sauce off your mouth, for goodness sake. It’ll come out in the wash…I guarantee!

Happy Weeding,

Angela Treadwell Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau

PS – Since we’ve talked a lot of royalty and kings today, I thought it would be fitting to introduce you to one of our new plant introductions for 2010, Phlox paniculata ‘Lord Clayton’. With its regal hues and tall stature, this new plant is fit for the King’s garden.

Discovered as a chance seedling in the perennial border of Tammy Clayton, landscape designer, and garden writer in Michigan, this new selection won us over with it’s deep purple foliage, lime green veining and jewel-toned, garnet red blooms. Lord Clayton is mildew resistant and it grows to an ultimate height of 36 to 40” tall in three years. Liners are currently available only from North Creek Nurseries in Landenberg, PA.

As always, readers of The Weeding Gnome are welcome to ask for samples of any of the plants mentioned above.