Resin, ceramic and polyresin in a Pennsylvania winter

A garden ornament in this part of Pennsylvania goes through dozens of freeze-thaw cycles between November and March. That cycle, not the cold itself, is what breaks them.

What freeze-thaw actually does

Water gets into a material — into pores, into a hairline crack, into the seam where two parts were joined. It freezes and expands by about nine per cent. The expansion pushes the crack slightly wider. It thaws, more water gets into the now-larger crack, and it freezes again.

Repeat forty times over a winter and a hairline crack becomes a split. This is why an ornament that survived one winter fails in its third, and why the damage always appears at the base — where water collects.

Ceramic

The most vulnerable, and by a wide margin.

Ceramic is porous unless it is fully vitrified and glazed on every surface, and almost no garden ceramic is glazed on the underside. Water enters through the unglazed base, freezes, and the glaze pops off in flakes or the piece cracks outright.

Bring ceramic pieces in before the first hard freeze. This is the one clear recommendation on this page. A ceramic gnome left out through a Pennsylvania winter is a gnome you are replacing.

If it must stay out, raise it off the ground so the base is not sitting in water, and cover it.

Resin and polyresin

Polyresin — resin with a mineral filler, usually stone powder — is what most modern garden gnomes are made of, and it is genuinely good in this climate.

It is non-porous, so water does not get inside to freeze. It is slightly flexible, so it tolerates thermal movement. And it is light enough to move easily and heavy enough not to blow over.

Its two weaknesses:

UV. Sunlight fades the paint and, over years, makes the resin chalky and brittle. This is a slow process measured in seasons, and it is why an ornament in full sun ages faster than one in partial shade.

Impact when cold. Polyresin becomes more brittle at low temperature. A piece knocked over on a frozen path in January is more likely to break than the same piece knocked over in July.

Left out year-round in this climate, a polyresin ornament typically looks good for several years and gradually fades.

Concrete and cast stone

Heavy and durable, and porous. Cast stone absorbs water and is genuinely vulnerable to freeze-thaw over time — it does not usually crack in one winter, but it spalls at the surface over several.

Sealing with a masonry sealer every couple of years extends the life considerably. Keeping the base out of standing water helps more.

Metal

Not affected by freeze-thaw at all. Its problem is rust where a coating has been chipped. Touch up chips as they appear and metal outlasts everything else here.

The base is where it starts

Whatever the material, the damage starts underneath, because that is where water sits.

Three things extend the life of any ornament in this climate:

• Raise it. A paving slab, a couple of stones, a gravel pad — anything that stops the base sitting in mud and meltwater.
• Do not put it in a hollow. Water collects and freezes there first.
• Check the drainage hole. Many hollow resin ornaments have a small hole in the base to let water out. If it blocks with debris, the ornament fills with water and freezes solid from the inside. Clear it in autumn.

The autumn routine

Twenty minutes in late October, once a year:

1. Bring ceramic pieces indoors — garage, shed or basement is fine.
2. Switch off any solar ornaments coming inside.
3. Clear drainage holes on hollow pieces.
4. Wipe pieces staying out and check for chips; a chip is where water gets in.
5. Raise anything sitting directly on soil.

Touching up paint

Faded or chipped resin can be repainted with exterior acrylic and sealed with a clear UV-resistant outdoor varnish. It is a genuinely worthwhile afternoon on a piece you like, and it doubles the life.

Clean and dry the surface first, and do it in dry weather above about fifty degrees or the paint will not cure.

What our listings say

Material is on every listing where the manufacturer states it, and we do not describe a ceramic piece as weatherproof. A maker’s “weather-resistant” is repeated as weather-resistant, which is not the same as “leave it out all winter in Pennsylvania”.

Where to look

Resin and polyresin statues, which are the ones that handle a winter here, are on the garden gnome statues and funny and novelty gnomes pages. Lit pieces are at solar gnomes with lights, and the small indoor figures that never face weather at all are under gnome figurine sets.