Chris Madden Cartoons

A searchable archive for licensing

Gardening cartoon about cutting a branch from a tree – and forward planning

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saw branch off tree - cartoon

Garden tree cartoon – sawing a branch off a tree while sitting on the branch

Cartoon about the cliche of a man sawing a branch off a tree while sitting on the branch.
In the usual version of this cartoon cliche the man is sitting on the part of the branch which will fall to the ground when cut – a joke about human stupidity.

In this version of the cartoon the man has realised this danger and has sat on the part of the branch that will remain attached to the tree.
However, he’s overlooked the fact that his ladder was leaning on the branch and has fallen to the ground, stranding him on the stump of the branch high in the tree.

A cartoon about hubris, the law of unforeseen consequences, insufficient planning, foreword planning, flawed planning strategies, flaws in reasoning.

Cartoon reference number: a281

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Garden pond cartoon – a mobile pond in a wheelbarrow

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garden pond in wheelbarrow - cartoon

Garden pond cartoon – a garden pond in a wheelbarrow

Cartoon about unusual garden ponds

A moveable pond in a wheelbarrow – a pond that can by moved round the garden

A cartoon about creating a garden pond, novelty garden ponds, humorous garden ponds, uses for old garden tools and implements, unusual uses for wheelbarrows, novelty garden design.

Cartoon reference number: a280

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Fruit growing cartoon – pear tree producing gluts of fruit in the autumn

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pear tree fruit glut cartoon

Fruit gardening cartoon – a glut of fruit on a pear tree

Cartoon about the problem of gluts of seasonal food or the over abundance of seasonal crops

The gardener complaining that all of the fruit on a fruit tree arrives at once.

A cartoon about fruit gardening, vegetable gardens, harvesting fruit, pear trees, garden fruit, allotment gardening, autumn gardens, fall gardening, fruit picking.

Cartoon reference number: a279

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Gardening cartoon – you sometimes only notice trees when they’re in blossom

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only notice trees when in blossom - cartoon

Gardening cartoon – how blossom imposes itself on your senses

Cartoon showing gardeners commenting on how plants can go unnoticed except when they are in flower

The gardener is saying that it’s amazing how a tree stands there unnoticed all year – then it comes into blossom and you can’t take your eyes off it.

A cartoon about blooms, flowers, colour in the garden, attention-seeking flowers, attractive blossom, cherry blossom time, flowering trees, summer gardens.

Cartoon reference number: a278

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Next door neighbour’s children’s toy in garden – cartoon

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next doors kids toy in garden - cartoon

Gardening cartoon – children’s toy in garden

Cartoon showing a gardener finding a small spaceship in his garden
He is wondering whether it’s a real spaceship or a children’s toy spaceship from next door

The gardener is saying “Either the vegetable patch is being colonised by tiny aliens or next door’s kids have lost one of their toys.”

Part of the humour of this cartoon is that the gardener thinks that it may be a real alien spacecraft first and a children’s toy second.
A cartoon about children losing toys in gardens, alternative explanations for phenomena, neighbours, next door neighbours’ balls in garden.

Cartoon reference number: a277

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Innovative garden ornaments cartoon – Loch Ness monster sculpture

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Loch Ness monster as garden ornament - cartoon

Gardening cartoon – Loch Ness monster cartoon

Cartoon showing a man putting a model of the Loch Ness monster onto his garden lawn.

The gardener’s wife is saying “Why can’t we just have gnomes like everyone else?”

Part of the humour of this cartoon is that the Loch Ness monster is composed of a series of humps that can be placed individually on the lawn, giving the impression that the creature is both above and below the lawn.
A cartoon about eccentric garden sculpture, humorous garden features, novelty garden ornaments, garden design, innovative garden sculptures.

Cartoon reference number: a276

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Autumn garden cartoon – Indian summer gardening

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indian summer wearing shorts - cartoon

Gardening cartoon – autumn heatwave cartoon

Cartoon showing a man raking autumn leaves on a very hot autumn day after a cold and miserable summer.

The gardener is saying “This is the first time this year that it’s been hot enough to garden in shorts.”

A cartoon about unseasonable weather, Indian summers (spells of very warm weather in autumn or fall).

Cartoon reference number: a275

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Hanging basket in front of front door – gardening cartoons

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hanging basket in front of front door - cartoon

Hanging basket cartoon – gardening cartoon

Cartoon showing a hanging basket hanging in front of a door

The joke is that the hanging basket is too low and is blocking the doorway, but the man can’t quite work out what’s wrong

As well as being a straightforward cartoon about garden design and the pitfalls of garden design, this cartoon is a metaphor for the way that people often can’t tell what they are doing wrong (even though it may be staring them in the face).

Cartoon reference number: a274

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Gardening cartoon – a model of a tower crane to hang hanging baskets

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hanging basket crane - cartoon

Garden design cartoon – hanging basket cartoon

Cartoon showing a hanging basket in a garden, suspended from a scale model of a construction crane or tower crane.

The woman in the cartoon is saying “It’s dad’s way of moving into retirement gradually. He used to be a crane operator.”

The model of the crane in the garden is meant to illustrate the fact that garden features and garden decorations need not be limited to concrete or resin copies of classical statues. The structure of the crane here is meant to suggest modern sculpture of constructivist sculpture to some extent, as well as simple garden frameworks and trellises for plants to climb on.
A cartoon about retirement, changes in lifestyle as people get older, leisure activity in old age, retirement activities, keeping busy in retirement.

Cartoon reference number: a273

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halloween lanterns in garden to scare cats – cartoon

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halloween lanterns to scare cat cartoon

Autumn gardening cartoon – halloween cartoon

Cartoon showing a gardener painting halloween lantern faces onto his prize pumpkins.

He is painting the halloween faces onto the pumpkins in an attempt to scare cats away so that they don’t damage his garden (such as by using his freshly dug seed beds as a cat toilet).

Cartoon reference number: a272

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Garden gate with health and safety notice on it – cartoon

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garden gate health and safety notice cartoon

Garden gate cartoon – garden design cartoon

Cartoon about health and safety in the garden
A warning sign on a garden gate similar to the type that are displayed on building sites and construction sites

The joke here is about the pervasiveness of health and safety culture, in which practically every human activity is judged to be hazardous.

The gardener is saying “The garden’s a dangerous place, what with its ponds and thorns – not to mention the power tools.”
Health and safety warning signs such as the one in the cartoon are, I assume, a defence against the current litigation culture. The fact that the signs are there proves that people have been warned of potential danger, thus placing responsibility for personal safety in the hands of the person who has been warned.

Cartoon reference number: a271

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Creepy crawlies on garden flowers cartoon

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bugs on flowers cartoon

Garden insects cartoon

Cartoon about garden insects on flowers.

A gardener looking closely at a flower and noticing the tiny insects that are living on it that had been unnoticed until he examined the bloom closely.
The gardener is saying ” It’s wonderful how every spring I’m newly surprised by the incredible shapes and colours of the flowers in the garden – and of the insects that are hiding between their petals.”
A cartoon about garden wildlife, secret life in the garden, invertebrates, nature, natural gardening, organic gardening, eco-friendly gardening.
Cartoon reference number: a288

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Frogs spawning in garden pond – garden gnomes cartoon

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frogs spawning garden gnomes cartoon

Garden wildlife cartoon and garden gnome cartoon

Cartoon of a garden pond that has garden gnomes round the edge holding coils of barbed wire in order to keep cats away from the pond

The garden gnomes are being used to protect the frogs and fish in the pond from the local cats.
Cats are a problem around garden ponds, especially in the frog spawning season.

Garden gnomes are normally holding fishing rods, spades, wheelbarrows or other gardening implements. Gnomes holding barbed wire is a novelty.
Part of the joke is that this particular type of garden gnome is actually useful rather than just being decorative.

Cartoon reference number: a265

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Gardening cartoon and obesity cartoon – fat man in the garden

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fat man can't see flowers cartoon

Gardening cartoon and obesity cartoon – fat man in the garden

Cartoon of an overweight man looking at a plant – but he is too large to be able to see it over his large stomach

The obese man is saying “You know you need to lose weight when you can’t see your flowers anymore”

Cartoon reference number: a264

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

False perspective in the garden cartoon – after M C Escher

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Escher false perspective in the garden cartoon

Gardening cartoon and self-sufficient power generation cartoon

Cartoon about sustainable power generation, featuring an Escher type use of false perspective to make water flow up hill in a garden pond or ‘water feature’.

Cartoon of a woman mowing a lawn with an electric lawn mower powered by a generator harnessing the power of flowing water in her garden pond.
She is saying “It’s amazing how much electricity you can generate with a small generator and a little bit of false perspective”

This is a recently redrawn version of a cartoon that I first drew about thirty years ago in the 1980s. It’s one of a series of cartoons that I drew at the time about sustainable technology – mostly employing absurdist ideas such as the impossible structure here that allows water to flow uphill (borrowed from the work of M C Escher). Other ideas in the series included perpetual motion machines and Heath Robinson devices.
A cartoon about sustainable energy, lawnmowers, garden ponds, garden water features, environmental gardening.

Cartoon reference number: a263

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Small garden cartoon

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door mat sized lawn cartoon

Gardening cartoon

Cartoon of a gardener at her front door with a watering can.
The house fronts straight onto the street, with no front garden.
The gardener is waiting what looks like a door mat

She is saying “It’s not a door mat – it’s my lawn”

This is a cartoon about garden lawns, gardening in small gardens.

Cartoon reference number: a262

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Gardening cartoons – dandelion clock

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Gardening cartoon - child blowing a dandelion clock

Gardening cartoon

Cartoon of a gardener and his son it the garden.
The child is blowing dandelion seeds from a dandelion clock

The gardener is encouraging his son to go and blow the seeds over his neighbour’s garden instead of his garden

This is a cartoon about garden weeds, controlling weeds,seed propagation, wind-borne seed, childhood games.

Cartoon reference number: a261

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Garden cartoon – drooping crocuses

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crocus wilt - flower gardening cartoon

Spring gardening cartoon
Flower gardening cartoon, featuring drooping crocuses

Cartoon of a gardener looking at some crocuses in his lawn.
The crocuses are flopping over or keeling over and wilting after a very short period of flowering.
The gardener is complaining that no sooner do crocuses come into flower than they then wilt and die.

His wife is saying “Never mind dear, the daffodils will be along soon.”
The wisdom of planting flowers for successive flowering

This is a cartoon about optimism and pessimism, glass half full, glass half empty, looking on the bright side, plants flowering in succession. It’s also about life moving on, change.

Cartoon reference number: a260

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Garden vegetable glut – gardening and cookery cartoon

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Courgette glut - gardening and cookery cartoon

Vegetable gardening cartoon
Cookery cartoon

Cartoon of a gardener harvesting courgettes from his garden and bringing them into the kitchen

In the kitchen the gardener’s wife is looking at recipes for courgettes and is saying “It’s amazing how many recipes you can find with courgettes in them when you have to”

This is a joke about the problem of gluts of seasonal vegetables and fruit.
Home grown courgettes are a particularly good example of glut-prone vegetables.

Cartoon reference number: a259

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Christmas cartoon – reindeer eating garden vegetables

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Christmas cartoons - reindeer eating garden vegetables

A Christmas gardening cartoon from my selection of Christmas cartoons

A man looking out of his window on Christmas morning to see a reindeer eating his garden vegetables

Cartoon of a gardener seeing Santa’s reindeer eating his brussels sprouts

A cartoon about Santa Claus’s reindeer, Father Christmas delivering Christmas presents.
Part of the joke is that although Santa’s reindeer is on an extraordinary mission (delivering Christmas presents around the world) it is engaged in a mundane activity. It is the mundane activity that the man notices, rather than the extraordinary occurrence of Santa’s reindeer in his garden. He is obviously more concerned about his garden vegetables than he is interested in the magic of Christmas.

Cartoon reference number: a270

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Christmas cartoon – unwanted gifts find a use

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Christmas gloves gift cartoon

Christmas gardening cartoon.
Winter gardening cartoon

A man finding an alternative use for unwanted Christmas gifts

Cartoon of a gardener using all of the gloves that he received as Christmas presents as frost protectors for the plants in his garden.
The plants are just the right size and shape to fit the gloves, which is part of the joke

A cartoon about gloves as Christmas presents, unwanted Christmas gifts, winter gardening, frost protection, fleece, insulation.

Cartoon reference number: a269

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Christmas gardening cartoon

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Christmas gardening book cartoon

Christmas gardening book cartoon

A man opening his Christmas present from his wife
The Christmas present is a book called ‘The Home Decorator’s Year’

He is thinking ‘I’m sure I asked for “The Gardener’s Year”‘
The man’s wife thinks that he should spend more time decorating the house than outside in the garden.
To her gardening is a hobby, while decorating the house is a chore that she equates with housework (which her husband doesn’t do)

A cartoon about gender roles, household chores, Christmas presents, Christmas gifts, books.

Cartoon reference number: a268

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Spring gardening cartoon – dirty socks cartoon

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change socks - gardening cartoon

Spring gardening cartoon

A man saying that he thinks he can feel the new life of spring stirring beneath his feet as he stands on the garden lawn

His wife is saying that it’s time for him to change his socks

A cartoon about the differing hygiene standards of men and women, gender differences in cleanliness, smelly socks.

Cartoon reference number: a267

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Litter cartoon and gardening cartoon – wind-blown plastic bags caught in trees

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Wind blown carrier bags in tree - cartoon

Litter cartoon. Plastic bags caught in a tree

Cartoon showing wind-blown plastic bags caught in the branches of a tree.

A gardening cartoon showing brightly coloured plastic carrier bags adding a splash of colour to a winter garden

The joke is that the man in the cartoon is trying to see something positive about the litter, which most people would see as an eyesore.

Cartoon reference number: a266

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Control freak cartoon. Gardening cartoons

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Control freak cartoon. Gardening cartoon

Control freak cartoon.
Gardening cartoon

Cartoon of a gardener obsessively measuring the height of his plants.
His daughter has overheard her mother chatting to a friend, and the child is asking her father “Daddy, what’s a control freak?”

A cartoon about control freaks, anally retentive behaviour, children saying embarrassing things, regimented garden design, flower arrangements, formal garden layouts, obsession with order, psychology of gardening

This is a joke about the cliche of the stereotype of the man and his shed – where the garden shed is a man’s ‘den’ or hideaway from his family, where he can do manly (though unthreatening) things.
Part of the joke is that you wonder why the garden shed would have a cellar, and what might be in it.
It is a cartoon about masculinity, male territory, territoriality, men’s interests, gender roles.

Cartoon reference number: a258

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Garden cartoons – men and sheds – and cold frames

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cold frame to cellar cartoon

Men and sheds cartoon.
Gardening cartoon

Cartoon of a gardener emerging from a ladder in what looks like a cold frame

He is saying “It looks like a cold frame but it’s actually the door to the shed’s cellar”

This is a joke about the cliche of the stereotype of the man and his shed – where the garden shed is a man’s ‘den’ or hideaway from his family, where he can do manly (though unthreatening) things.
Part of the joke is that you wonder why the garden shed would have a cellar, and what might be in it.
It is a cartoon about masculinity, male territory, territoriality, men’s interests, gender roles.

Cartoon reference number: a257

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Clocks change cartoon. Clocks go forward

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Clocks change - gardening cartoon

Clocks going forward cartoon.

Cartoon about the hour changing, and the effect that the dark evenings have on gardeners when clocks go forward.

Cartoon of a gardener when the clocks go forward in the autumn and when it gets dark an hour earlier.
The gardener’s wife is saying that because of the dark evenings he can spend the time that he would have spent in the garden decorating the house instead.

A cartoon about home decorating, GMT, Greenwich Mean Time, BST, British Summer Time, DIY, household chores.

Cartoon reference number: a256

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Vegetable gardening cartoon – cabbage white butterfly cartoon

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cabbage white butterfly cartoon

Vegetable gardening cartoon – a cabbage white butterfly in the veg patch

Cartoon showing a girl seeing a cabbage white butterfly in her parents’ vegetable garden

She is saying “Daddy – a lovely white butterfly has just landed on your cabbages!”

A cartoon about the innocence of childhood, garden pests, gardeners’ banes.

Cartoon reference number: a250

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Gardening cartoons – butterflies are like flying flowers

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butterflies are like flying flowers - cartoon

Gardening cartoons – butterflies are like flying flowers

Cartoon showing butterflies in a garden

The gardener is saying “I like to think of butterflies as aerial flower displays”

A cartoon about attracting insects to the garden, butterfly gardening, garden design.

Cartoon reference number: a249

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Garden bird feeder and bird seed cartoon

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bird feeder and bird seed cartoon

Cartoon about garden bird feeders, feeding stations and bird seed

Cartoon showing a bird feeder full of bird seed

The gardener is asking his wife if she has seen his prize marrow seeds

The implication is that the gardener’s wife has used the prize vegetable seeds as bird food.

Cartoon reference number: a248

See my book of gardening cartoons here.
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