In the past I've been a vocal dissenter when gardeners have introduced gnomes into their gardens - check out my past posts here, here and here. Yet to be fair they do have their place, namely Gnomeville.

But there is one place that they've never been accepted before and that's the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The upper-crust just don't appreciate them, it seems, and so they've never made it onto centre stage.

This year, however, it appears that their rule is about to be challenged. Jekka McVicar, a member of the ruling council, has introduced one into her garden design - a medicinal and culinary herb garden. The offending gnome is a whispy fellow holding a rod and fishing in the makeshift stream. While Mrs McVicar has been told to remove it from the display she has opted to make it less visible, but nonetheless still part of the display garden.

If that wasn't enough to burst the boilers of the conservative judges, David Domoney has also introduced some gnome-like figurines into his biker's display. The creatures, while not actually gnomes, have given organisers a minor coronary and they've solicited an eviction notice - or else!

I, for one, am surprised that gnomes have never made it into Chelsea before. While I don't find them endearing at all, one has to admit that they are certainly a part of the modern, and historic, garden. Gardeners have been decorating their yards with them for aeons so to completely dispel them from any of their exhibits says more about their (lack of) understanding of the humble garden than anything else.

What do you think? Should gnomes be allowed to take their place amidst centre stage of the world's greatest garden show, or ignored where they might hopefully disappear forever?

Source: Gnomes infiltrate RHS Chelsea Flower Show via Jekka McVicar's garden