What’s in a gnome?

Posted by Barbara on April 13, 2026 in Blog, Environment, Gardening, Leisure activities | 2 comments

‘Well’, she huffed crossly, ‘I’ve heard it all.  And Chelsea Flower Show of all places! Who decided this and why are some nearly sacred traditions being transgressed? Should we have a petition to stop it? Oh..apparently the King is behind it. Now come on Charles, we expected better from you.’

So what’s all the fuss about? Well.. . you’ll never believe it but… the august Royal Horticultural Society has lifted a 99-year old ban on garden gnomes on display at the Chelsea Flower Show.  Yes, these cute little stone guys made in a variety of materials have not had an outing at Chelsea since 1927 for fear of ‘lowering the tone’.

So why the rule relaxation for 2026? Apparently the aim is to raffle a gnome to raise funds for the RHS’s campaign for school gardening, which is an initiative to get children involved in horticulture. All well and good, but you won’t believe who the King has invited to decorate a gnome for the raffle?  Yes, it could not be more fitting – that well-known artist and style guru David Beckham.  I guess it is on the level of ‘Beckingham Palace’, she admitted ruefully.  As long as the gnome does not appear in tight-fitting underpants we should be safe.

I gather that Beckham is not the only celeb who will be decorating gnomes this year: Cate Blanchett and Mary Berry have offered their creative services, so flower show regulars will be treated to an array of the little lads in the King’s Garden.

So just how did we get here? It seems that gnomes have a mythical origin: Paracelsus, the Renaissance Swiss alchemist, referred to ‘diminutive figures two spans in height who did not like to mix with humans’.  Small stone ‘grotesques’ became a fashionable addition to the gardens of the wealthy. By the mid-19th century the fashion had spread to many countries in Europe, starting in Germany and becoming very popular in France and Britain.  In the early 20th century, the place to go and gnome gawk was the gardens in Henley-on-Thames of Sir Frank Crisp, a lawyer, microscopist and keen horticulturalist. He owned one of the largest collections of garden gnomes in the UK, and opened his gardens to the public on a weekly basis from 1910-1919.  One wonders whether his collection was appropriated for the war effort, and if so, in what capacity?

But back to this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. I truly hope that the decorated celeb gnomes raise pots of money from the great and the good, as schools nowadays need all the help they can get. Anything to get the little blighters off their screens, I say, but my last bit of information may raise the eyebrows somewhat: it seems that not content with lifting the gnome ban, the Show will also feature a ‘sex garden’ sponsored by a company that sells vibrators.  It will be billed as an Aphrodite-themed pleasure garden with plants and flowers associated with love and sex.

In comparison, a David Beckham sequinned and glitter covered pink garden gnome seems to be positively highbrow.