Chris Madden Cartoons

A searchable archive for licensing

Autumn leaves blowing off a garden tree – into a neighbour’s garden

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autumn leaves blowing to neighbours - cartoon

Cartoon showing autumn leaves blowing off a garden tree – into a neighbour’s garden

Cartoon showing a gardener saying “Always plant trees so that the prevailing wind blows the autumn leaves next door”

A cartoon about the importance of planting a garden taking into account the direction of the prevailing wind

As well as the direction of the prevailing wind the gardener needs to take into account other aspects of the orientation of the garden, such as the direction in which it is facing in relation to the sun.

Cartoon reference number: a244

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Autumn gardening cartoon. Burning autumn leaves

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Burning autumn leaves - cartoon

Seasonal gardening cartoon – burning autumn leaves

Cartoon about tidying the garden in autumn

Cartoon showing a gardener burning autumn leaves

The gardener is making a bonfire out of the autumn leaves that have fallen onto his garden during fall.
The burning leaves are making a lot of smoke, which is drifting across into a neighbour’s garden where it is making the clothes that are drying on the washing line dirty. The neighbour is putting the fire out by pouring water onto it. (Pouring water onto the fire may actually be making the leaves damp and thus more smokey, which in turn creates a possible further point to the cartoon, even though it’s an inadvertent one).

Cartoon reference number: a242

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Gardening calendar cartoon – planting bulbs at the autumn equinox to flower at the spring equinox

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Autumn equinox - gardening cartoon

Seasonal gardening cartoon – planting in the autumn ready for the spring

Cartoon about the first signs of autumn in the garden

Cartoon showing a gardener consulting his garden calendar

The gardener in his garden shed thinking “It’s the autumn equinox – time to plant bulbs ready for the spring equinox!”
A cartoon about the gardener’s year, the fall equinox, the vernal equinox, seasons in the garden, when to plant bulbs.

Cartoon reference number: a241

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Gardening cartoon – the arrival of autumn comes too soon

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Cartoon - the arrival of autumn

Gardening cartoon – the arrival of autumn

Cartoon about the first signs of autumn in the garden

Cartoon showing a man about to relax in his garden.
He is noticing the first autumn leaf falling to the ground

The man is thinking “I slave away all summer getting the garden just right to relax in – then suddenly autumn arrives!”
A cautionary cartoon about the dangers of working too hard towards a goal without taking the time to appreciate things around you while you’re doing it. In other words – don’t focus on your work to the exclusion of everything else – take time to smell the roses.
A cartoon about the passing of time, life-work balance, fall gardening, summer gardening, relaxing in the garden.

Cartoon reference number: a240

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Insect pests in gardens – cartoon

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ants garden pests cartoon

Garden pests cartoons. Ants in the garden

Cartoon about garden insect pests – ants eating food on a garden table

Cartoon showing a man relaxing at a garden table, but with a column of ants eating his cake on the table. The man is reading a manual titled “How to get rid of ants”.

A cartoon about insect pests in gardens, ants attracted to sweet food in a garden.

Cartoon reference number: a239

See my book of gardening cartoons here.
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Garden design cartoon – arranging plants in a garden border in alphabetical order

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Garden layout cartoon - alphabetical planting

Gardening cartoons. Arranging flowers in an herbaceous border

Cartoon about garden design, laying out garden borders

Cartoon showing a man planting flowers and shrubs in a garden border

The joke in this cartoon centres on the fact that the man who is laying out the garden has no aesthetic appreciation of design or colour in the garden, and is basing his design on categorisation of the plants by name. This is his idea of creating order and control in the garden, and this is what he is happy with.
An important aspect of this cartoon is that the man is arranging his plants in alphabetical order – not in order based on species (which may be a method of planting that places order over aesthetics, but at least such a planting scheme has a rationality to it, whereas planting in alphabetical order is to some extent random and thus is an illusory form of rationale).
A cartoon about planting schemes, garden layout, garden design.

Cartoon reference number: a238

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Garden cartoons – a weed’s a weed. What’s the definition of a weed?

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A weed's a weed - cartoon

Gardening cartoons. A weed’s a weed

Cartoon about attitudes to weeds and wild plants

Cartoon showing a man admiring a wild flower – but pulling it out of his garden anyway because he thinks of it as a weed

A cartoon about the definition of weeds, wild flowers in gardens, natural gardening, wild flower gardening, encouraging wildlife and nature in the garden.

Cartoon reference number: a237

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Garden design cartoon – down to earth vegetable garden or ostentatious designer garden?

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garden design and seed catalogue - cartoon

Gardening and garden design cartoon. Ordering garden seeds from a seed catalogue

Cartoon about garden design and planning

Cartoon showing a man trying to decide what type of garden to create – a vegetable garden or a garden in the form of a sub-tropical paradise retreat

Part of the humour in the cartoon is that the man who is contemplating designing or planning a new garden is a stereotypical old age pensioner – a type of person who probably wouldn’t be interested in creating an aspirational garden design such as a designer garden. He’d normally prefer a traditional vegetable garden or allotment garden in which he could potter round rather than a high status garden that would (hopefully) impress his friends.
The cartoon is meant to imply that an ostentatious high status garden design is more vulgar than an ‘honest’ vegetable plot.
This is a cartoon about cultural types, social class, cultural stereotypes.

Cartoon reference number: a236

See my book of gardening cartoons here.
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Children won’t go outside to play in the garden

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children watching tv in garden - cartoon

Gardening and gardens cartoon. The only way to get children to go outside into the garden is to put a television there

A joke about the problem of getting children away from the television and their computers.
The horror of the idea of ‘outdoor television’ – especially for kids

A comic illustration about child development, children’s games and activities, children won’t play outside anymore, physical exercise for children.
Cartoon reference number: a228

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Garden gate cartoon – installing a paying turnstile

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turnstile instead of garden gate - cartoon

Gardening and gardens cartoon – installing a turnstile in place of a garden gate

A comic illustration showing a gardener who has replaced his garden gate with a turnstile complete with a money slot

The turnstile means that to enter his garden people have to pay. This acts as a deterrence to unwelcome visitors

By having to pay in order to reach the front door the turnstile stops cold calling door-to-door salesmen, junk mail deliverers, leaflet deliverers, Jehovah’s witnesses and other unwelcome visitors. Only people who really want to visit the house will pay to enter the garden (and possibly get a refund when the front door is answered.
I think I may install one of these devises myself now that I think about it.

Cartoon reference number: a227

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Garden humour. A drawback of tall plants

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tall flower cartoon

Garden design cartoon. A drawback of tall plants

A humorous illustration showing a flower bed with a very tall specimen in it.

The gardener is saying “Its height is very impressive – but it stops us appreciating the amazing delicacy of its flowers”
The flowers are ones that you really need to be able to get close to.

Cartoon reference number: a225

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Airborne sycamore seeds invading a garden cartoon

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sycamore seeds invading garden - humour

Gardening humour – airborne sycamore seeds invading a garden

Cartoon showing sycamore ‘helicopters’ fluttering down into a garden on a gust of wind.

The gardener is saying “Isn’t nature wonderful? All those sycamore seeds fluttering over our garden – and every last one of them fertile”

A joke about invasive species of trees, seed propagation, evolved seed dispersal strategies.

Cartoon reference number: a224

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Garden design cartoon – make the neighbours think there’s a swimming pool in your garden

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cartoon - swimming pool in garden

Garden design cartoon – is there a swimming pool in this garden?

Comic illustration showing a swimming pool diving board visible over a garden fence.
It’s just there to make it look as if there’s a swimming pool in the garden

A joke about status and prestige in garden design.
Cartoon reference number: a223

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Cartoon – sun loving plants and shade loving plants

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cartoon - sun loving plants and shade loving plants

Gardening humour about sun loving plants and shade loving plants

Cartoon showing a gardener potting up plants into plant pots in his garden.

He’s putting sun loving plants on the top of a work table or stand, and shade loving plants on a shelf under the table – in the shade
A humorous illustration about positioning plants in the garden.

Cartoon reference number: a222

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Mowing the lawn humor – cutting the grass round someone on a lounger

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mowing round lounger on lawn - cartoon

Gardening cartoon about mowing the lawn – cutting round someone lying on a lounger on the lawn

Comic illustration showing a gardener cutting the grass and haviving to divert his lawn mower round someone relaxing on a lounger on the lawn.

The lawn mower in the cartoon is the type with rotary blades that create stripes on the lawn. Here the stripes bend round the obstacle on the lawn. This is part of the humour, because stripy lawns are often thought of as being very neat (to the point of obsessive neatness).

Cartoon reference number: a221

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Design for small gardens – cartoon. Maximise space with a spiral staircase

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spiral staircase in small garden comic illustration

Gardening humour. Design for small suburban gardens. Using a spiral staircase to maximise space in a small garden

Vertical gardening comic illustration – showing an outdoor spiral staircase in a very small garden, with flowers planted in hanging baskets up the staircase.

How to make a small garden seem bigger.
I may do a different version of this cartoon, set in a particular town in the UK. I’ll call the cartoon “The hanging gardens of Basildon”. Surely that must be the name of garden centre in Basildon. If it isn’t, it should be.
This type of gardening is now known as vertical gardening. Versions of it can be found on walls on the sides of city buildings, both outdoors and indoors.

Cartoon reference number: a220

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Gardening humor – is there room for one more plant in a garden that’s full to bursting?

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Room for one more plant - cartoon

Gardening cartoon – a garden that’s full of plants

`humorous illustration showing gardeners in a very well stocked garden. One of the gardeners has just returned from the garden centre with yet another plant.

She’s asking optimistically whether there’s room for another plant in the densely planted garden.

Cartoon reference number: a219

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Wildlife gardening cartoon – a nesting box for robins

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robin bird box - cartoon

Garden humour – putting a nesting box for robins

Cartoon showing a gardener putting a bird box in a tree to encourage birds to nest in his garden

The joke is in the fact that there’s a robin building a nest in the packaging or packing box that held the nesting box kit rather than in the nesting box itself.
Robins are well known for building their nests in unusual places, such as in discarded kettles, tin cans etc.

Cartoon reference number: a218

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Gardening humour – planting plants in the neighbour’s untidy garden

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cartoon - planting plants in neighbour's untidy garden

Suburban gardening cartoon – planting flowers and shrubs in the neighbour’s neglected garden

Joke showing a gardener sneaking into their next door neighbour’s overgrown garden to plant a bush or tree

A comic illustration about extending your garden into next door’s garden by secretly planting bushes and trees.

Cartoon reference number: a217

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Cartoon about prize-winning flowers – being destroyed by a child

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garden joke - child picking prize daffodils

Gardening humour about prize-winning flowers

Cartoon shows prize winning blooms being picked by a child as a present for her mother

A humorous illustration about gardening competitions, flower shows, plant breeding, daffodils, children in gardens and prize winning blooms.

Cartoon reference number: a216

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Cartoon about fruit trees – collecting windfalls from a pear tree

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pear windfall - cartoon

Gardening humour about fruit trees – collecting windfalls from a pear tree

A windfall fruit is falling straight into a bag labeled ‘windfalls’

Windfalls are normally associated with apples and apple trees, however I’ve used pears in my cartoon because they are a more interesting and recognisable shape.

Cartoon reference number: a215

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

House name cartoon. Turning Oak Cottage into Primrose Cottage

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oak cottage - primrose cottage - joke

A cartoon about house names. Turning Oak Cottage into Primrose Cottage

Chopping down an oak tree in a garden means that the house name needs to be changed from Oak Cottage.

There’s a primrose in the garden, so the house name is changed to Primrose Cottage.
A humorous illustration about garden trees, felling trees, chopping down trees, garden flowers, wild flowers in the garden, natural gardens, tree stump in garden.
Cartoon reference number: a214

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Mowing the lawn with an electric lawn mower that needs a longer cable

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lawn mower needs a longer cable - comic illustration

Gardening humour. Mowing the lawn with an electric lawn mower that needs a longer cable

A cartoon showing a gardener cutting the grass with an electric mower

The electric cable of the mower is shorter than the length of the lawn, so the end of the lawn remains unmown
A humorous illustration about tidy gardens, untidy gardens, the end of the garden, grass cutting, power mowers, hover mowers.

Cartoon reference number: a213

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Garden flowers joke – a flowerbed shaped like a map of the world

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cartoon - flowerbed shaped like map of the world

Gardening cartoon. A flowerbed shaped like a map of the world

A comic illustration showing a gardener laying out a flower bed in the shape of a map of the world.

In the cartoon the flowers in each country are plants what are native to that country (so China is planted with flowers that originated in China, and so on)
The joke is partly that the gardener hasn’t been able to source any plants from Antarctica.
This is because the Antarctic is the only landmass on earth with no vegetation to speak of, apart from a few species that hang on in the margins. There are only two species of flowering plants in Antarctica, the Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica) and the Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis), which grow on the South Orkney Islands, the South Shetland Islands and along the western Antarctic Peninsula (The source of this information is the British Antarctic Survey).
Cartoon reference number: a212

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Using a magnifying glass in the garden to look at a small flower

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magnifying glass to look at small flower cartoon

Gardening humour. Using a magnifying glass to look at small flowers

A cartoon showing a gardener looking at a very small flower through a magnifying lens.

The magnifying glass is mounted on a stake in a plant pot, and the flower is in a plant pot
A joke about appreciating flowers, studying blossoms, size isn’t everything, small but perfectly formed.
Cartoon reference number: a211

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Gardening humour. Using a leaf blower to blow leaves into neighbour’s garden

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leaf blower neighbour cartoon

Autumn gardening cartoon. Using a leaf blower to blow leaves into neighbour’s garden

A comic illustration showing a gardener using a power leave blower to blow the autumn leaves off a tree – making them land in the next door neighbor’s garden.

A cartoon about autumn gardens, fall gardening, nasty neighbors, antisocial neighbours, tidy gardens.

Drawn: Nov 2010

Cartoon reference number: a210

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

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