Legends of gnomes go all the way back into folklore, most notably the Brother Grimm’s story “The Gnome”. In these stories, gnomes would help in the garden and were very skilled with plants. It’s no wonder that they are strongly associated with gardens today. In the mid-1800s, a man named Philipp Griebel created the first garden gnome. In the town Grafenroda , Germany, he turned these myths into terracotta statues, so that people could bring some of the magic to their own garden.
The popularity of gnomes spread to the United Kingdom in 1847, when Sir Charles Isham brought 21 figures back from Germany to decorate his garden. Out of those 21 only 1 remain intact. ” Lampy “, as he is called, is insured for 1 million pounds.
Griebel’s ancestors still make gnomes today, but the majority of the production comes from manufacturers in Poland or China. There is some slight controversy regarding garden gnomes, some people think that they distract from the appearance of a garden. For example, the Chelsea garden show in London, England has banned garden gnomes. This has cause some people to call them classist snobs, since gnomes are very popular in the working classes garden.
Whether or not you like these classic or not, there is no denying that they are a very popular piece of decor for the garden.