Those Little Guardians of the Lawn and Gardens!

It's early spring and those guardians of the lawn and garden are everywhere - or maybe I'm just noticing them more this year??  Whatever the case, this seemed like a good time to entertain you with some fun facts about those little clay creatures.  First off, garden gnomes are older than you think - the first gnomes were made in Germany in the mid-nineteenth century and of the original 21 gnomes that were brought to England in 1847, only one still exists and its insured for a million British pounds or about $1.6 million American dollars.

So why gnomes for a garden decoration?  Well, local myths depict gnomes as creatures that like to help out in the gardens at night.  The travelocity mascot is one of the more famous gnomes and was created because of the tradition of gnoming.  Those gnome-nappers will snatch up your gnome just to take it on vacation....but they do return them after their trip, usually sporting a wicked tan!