Wierd German Garden Decorations

I dunno if this is just a Munich thing, or a Germany-wide phenomenon. But has anyone else noticed these weird shiney balls-on-sticks in people's gardens? They're like giant christmas tree balls, put on the end of a stick, and stood up in the ground. Are they supposed to look nice or something? Cos they don't. They just look rubbish. Yet I'm seeing them in gardens everywhere. Maybe there's some sinister alien purpose that I'm missing? Enlightenment please!

Is it really much worse than your good old british garden gnome?

Aren't they supposed to scare of birds or cats or something like that?

I've seen things like while travelling through deepest darkest Indiana too.

Parallel evolution? Alien conspiracy? We may never know... until too late...Muuuhuhuahahaha.

hehehehehe. How?

I remember seeing them once (years and years ago) in those wee catalogues that you used to get in TV Times and other magazines. It has something to do with the light being reflected of the shiny surface, it scares birds and cats.

That might have been what they were originally intended for, probably here in Munich they are just a way to decorate your garden/window box and make it look pretty all year round.

I asked my landlord about the said balls, he said they are for fun!
They are for fun when you do em with the lawnmower, oops

Lawnmower? Too much effort. My thought is batting practice.

Would commonwealth types have a similar cricket-based reflex that kicks in?

They might look good if they are at the same height as the plants (e.g. fern). Will try it out in my "garden" and post a picture later. Didn't know that I could freak someone out with this

"Mailshot and other unwanted CDs can be threaded on twine with knots in between to keep them apart. String these across flower beds or hang from trees. The light reflections deter cats." Cat deterrents

See, I am not crazy
I assume the shiny balls are an alternative to having CDs hanging on string in your garden.

I prefer shiny helium bags strung barrage-baloon style at various elevations around the garden .

Good thing I don't have a garden...

The house next door to this one does have cats. Maybe the balls are protecting the bird tables which you can also see in the picture.

Sound plausible I suppose. Albeit a trifle bizzare.

cat detterants??? my ass... people actually think they are pretty. that's why they have them. as the title says, decorations.

what do cat's do that need deterring?

we have them in our garden, and have the neighbours
cats still coming to visit us...

Crazy germans having such ugly balls on sticks in their gardens. Why cant they have something tasteful like you see in classy english gardens:

'cause the cats would go wild in an "undeterred" society.

You gotta pay attention to the company you're with when you decide to let yourself go & pass out drunk like that. The kitty above was luckeeee.

continued..

Right then,

These blue ball things are not unique to Munich. I saw them in north Bavaria when I lived in Weiden for a year.

Gnomes? Drive over the border anywhere near Weiden into Czech. Immediately over the border you can stock up on thousands of three foot high gnomes sold by very dodgy Vietnamese (don't ask how they got there, they are horribly rude, aggressive and their products are shit)

Anyone else been over the border? Seen those "24 hour Non Stop" pink neon love hotels and the overly dodgy Czech prostitutes hanging out on the roadside?

Yeah all them and Tescos

um, on the original topic, this morning I saw one of those shiny balls on a stick - on a third floor balcony "garden". maybe it's just for the birds (or just the owner's poor taste), as there's no way a cat could make it up there. not even your Naked Cat...

There's a gerden near me with those balls in it, and they have cats too.

That's weird because there's a garden near me with cats in it, and they have balls too.

... look what happened to this poor fella when not given a correct portion of food to eat.

Fell right into a human style food coma, must've been turkey niblits.

I might as well add my two cents! I thought they were to scare the ground dwelling animals - moles, mice, and such. Anyway my vote is in the direction of deterring unwanted animals and pests.

PS:

Isn't cat the other white meat?

Yeah they are, but you have to bury them upside down -- with the shiny part in the ground and the stick part poking out.

Have you guys seen the Easter Decorations?? Little eggs still in all the trees in the gardens around here. Its so pretty. Also there were metre high cutouts of rabbits for Easter too! And fluffy fake chickens in baskets in the gardens! Pretty cool.

If you are a little mouse, you won't even bother looking up. You would go by smell for most of your foraging. Moles are blind too, so that won't work logicaly. My vote is that they are put there by people with little to no sense of taste or style. Gee, no wonder half of the girls on the other side of the velvet rope last night were wearing a skirt over their pants and had their hair dyed to match their little garden balls.

G'day chaps, I'm a regular lurker here, and this is my first post, so hello to all the regulars.

Having lived in the 'City of Little Monks' for 3 years I can conclusively state that these shiny balls are cleverly disguised brainwave interception devices.
Yes, these innocent shiny bits of kit are really capturing your thoughts as you pass by. How else do you think the government maintains control of the population ?
Remember to always wear a hat lined with tinfoil to prevent eavesdropping on your innermost thoughts while out in public

Don't for a minute believe that they are simply a tasteless garden ornament. That's what they want you to think !

Well welcome to the forum, Chewie.


Way ahead of you there -- had my tinfoil implanted, so can walk around with total immunity now.

these decorations are not so "weird" [sic! - weird - it's a major pp of mine] at all. they are known as "rosenkugeln" (roseballs) and have been around for a 1000 years - read something about their history over here.

Even though it's been around for 1000 years, it's still weird.
Reading up on that did not help matters. The plastic ones that cheaply immitate the shiny ones seem to be a favorite but if you 'stand back' you can't see the 'plastic-ness'.

this is the funniest thread ever
To clear things up, this is a "phenomenon" all over Germany.
We have them in the gardens too. It is just a decoration!
We still have cats and birds and they feel quite comfortable in the garden
How shall it scare ground dwelling animals???

Slowburn is right:
The are called "Rosenkugeln" (Roseballs) and have certain meanings. Nowadays it is just used as decoration.
Go to Schloss Berg at Starnberger See, they still have these on the way to th Schloss.
I think it is beautiful, especially with the ribbons...
Gnomes are just square and ugly!

Gnomes... square???

On a similar note whats the story with the black crows that are on peoples balconies here. I suddenly notice them everywhere on a short walk round schwabing and started to get a bit Hitchcock until I relised they were stuffed/plastic/dead.

It all seems a bit sinister...

They keep pigeons away and if the pigeons aren't there they can't shit on your balcony. Pigeons are dead scared of crows since crows are much fuckin 'arder. They intimidate the little pidgy-widgys

Nothing to do with cats or space aliens. They're decorations. Fact.

It says so on the box...

"The Rosenkuegel makes a beautiful addition to Grandpa's garden when placed on a stick amongst the roses and tulips".

Literal translation.

EUR 14.99 from Obi wan Kenobi

Remember to form an airtight seal between stick and ball otherwise condensation may form inside causing specks on the internal mirroring.

Case solved.