Vintage View: Garden urns and statues

Kya deLongchamps says adding urns or statues to your garden comes with some risks.

LAST year the Chelsea Flower Show lifted its former ban on the inclusion of garden gnomes attending its feted showgrounds. The protesters who had in past years hung around the gates in full gnome garb were finally dispersed and 150 more well behaved ornamental gnomes were placed on parade for Queen Elizabeth II. For most of us, there’s a deep-seated impulse to break up all that planting with a deliberately man-made inclusion, be it a gnome, a pronking full-size deer or something more refined.

Urns, planters, statues and sun-dials- just like the Romans, we love a wry touch of antiquity and theatre in our gardens. Since the 18th century even a modest Western plot contained a civilising piece of classical ornament defining an area and flagging that the owner’s tastes were as well cultivated as their borders.