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November 16, 2009

Gnome de plume

I didn't know there was gnome history, let alone gnome rules. But Angela Treadwell-Palmer, who writes under the nom de plume, The Weeding Gnome, knows about both.

Apparently garden gnomes are kind of like elves, who come out when you are not around and help you with your garden chores.

However, there is also a kind of PETA for gnomes. The group comes around and "liberates" gnomes that are enslaved in your garden and return them to the woods.

By the way, there is also history, tradition and rules...yes, rules...for gazing balls in the garden.

I know. That was news to me, too.

Photo credit: Gardeners Supply

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Garden humor

Comments

Thanks for this link, Susan--very interesting reading. The business about gazing balls reminds me of the time I added a terra cotta sphere to my garden. It was supposed to become moss-covered in time, but I was forced to rethink the concept when one of my sons asked "Mom, why is there a basketball by the pond?"

I did not know that gazing balls are supposed to repel witches--personally I rely on various plants that are reputed to do the same thing.

Posted by: Dahlink | November 16, 2009 4:59 PM

Wait, Dahlink! Don't just leave us hanging! Which plants repel witches?

Surely, I'm not the only one here who learned from reading Harry Potter - who once had to help rid the Weasley's garden of gnomes - that they are not the cute little creatures we've been lead to believe....

Posted by: Eve | November 17, 2009 8:54 AM

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About Susan Reimer

Susan Reimer has spent 16 years writing about raising kids - among other topics - in her column for The Baltimore Sun. And every time son Joseph or daughter Jessie passed another milestone - driver's license, college, wedding or a move to a new military duty station - she has planted another garden. Now she will be writing about those gardens - and yours - here on Garden Variety.

Susan isn't an expert gardener, but she wasn't an expert mother, either. Both - the kids and the gardens - seem to be doing well in spite of her.

She lives in Annapolis with her husband, Gary Mihoces, who loves to cut his grass but has noticed that there seems to be less of it every time the kids pass another milestone.

Follow @susanreimer on Twitter