What does the Polish People's Republic have in common with the RHS?

In the 1980s, the Orange Alternative movement painted orange gnomes in Wrocław on patches of paint where the militia had painted over anti-communist slogans written on walls by members of the opposition. The militia painted over the gnomes on the painted-over slogans, and the opposition gnomes painted new gnomes on the painted-over gnomes, on the painted-over slogans. And so the little orange figures became a symbol of creative resistance against communist censorship.

Until 2013, garden gnomes were officially banned from the Chelsea Flower Show, Europe's most important horticultural event organised by the RHS. According to the official justification, they distracted attention from the essence of the exhibition. But gardeners smuggled them into their designs. The famous garden designer Jekka McVickar, who has won 13 gold medals for her gardens at Chelsea, would hide her beloved gnome named Borage (from Borago officinalis, or borage) amongst the leaves, under clumps of lavender or behind a fountain every year.

Behind the gnome campaigns in communist Poland was Waldemar 'Major' Frydrych, an artist from Toruń studying in Wrocław, and behind the ban on gnomes at Chelsea was Prime Minister John Major. A coincidence…?

Today, there are over 1,000 gnome sculptures in Wrocław. Anyone can place such a gnome without any permission from the city. There is even a constantly updated app that supposedly allows you to find them all.

Garden gnomes are a 19th-century German invention, but as far back as ancient Rome, gardens were adorned with figurines of Priapus – the god of fertility, gardens, fruit and male genitalia. The huge erect phallus belonging to the tiny stone Priapus was, according to the ancient Romans, intended to scare off thieves.

I'll leave the commentary to Obelix…