I hate myself for loving Target [1]. While its mock-French nickname lost some cachet in the blogosphere [2] once Katie Couric appropriated it, the big box bastion of home goods for the hipster still knows how to reel me in with all those stylish and whimsical items that I may or may not really need.

Target hooked me again last week with a flyer tucked into my newspaper. It was a stealth flyer, looking exactly like an IKEA catalog, only thinner. By the time I realized it was actually from Target, I had already fallen in love with the cast iron garden gnomes and knew I had to get one. Or two. Three, tops.

So I hopped on the subway to the Brooklyn Target and got myself a pair of gnomes, and discovered, in the process, that Target has outdone itself with its line of outdoor products this season.

There, in the middle of the gardening department, stood the Mai Tiki Gazebo [3], a really nice-looking and sizable (10' x 10') structure made of bamboo, for a paltry $249 (it's $299 on the Target website, but I saw it at an upstate Target yesterday where it was also $249). Thank goodness we haven't got a large enough patch of level land to fit the Mai Tiki Gazebo, or I would be sorely tempted to buy it. And that would be just the beginning.

Once you've got the gazebo, there's a whole line of complimentary furnishings, including a bamboo bar and stools that provide the perfect setting in which to serve, and sip, the exotic, umbrella-topped beverage of your choice. There's an assortment of comfy, cushioned wicker seating and a "firebowl with screen," a kind of firepit that looks like just the ticket for making s'mores.

Target's even selling a line of upscale, German-engineered greenhouses [4] on their website this year. The sleek, simple structures have proven so popular that they're currently sold out of all but the smallest model, which, alas, at roughly 7 1/2' x 10 1/2 ‘ is still too big for our garden.

I also have trouble figuring out where we could fit one of the hot tubs Target now sells, or the sauna, for that matter, but it's fun to fantasize about.

More useful for my modest garden was the line of seeds Target's selling as part of its Sean Conway Garden Style line. It's a choice selection of seeds including everything from hard-to-find heirloom Bull's Blood beets, a brand-new-this-year cosmos for the dot.com set named "Double Click," and a nasturtium I've never seen anywhere, a mounding variety with dark blue-green leaves and deep salmon-rose flowers called "Salmon Baby."

I googled Sean Conway and discovered that he's the host of a new PBS program called Cultivating Life [5], a kind of cooking/gardening hybrid how-to. He looks like a nice, dorky sort of guy, with salt & pepper hair, and glasses. Don't know anything else about him, but he's definitely got good taste in seeds.

Another terrific gardening product at Target is a line of clogs called Sloggers [6]. They're really comfortable and easy to clean, with removable, washable inserts. I already own several pairs, but they keep coming out with new colors. I resisted the urge to get an orange pair, Mario Battali's trademark clog color. Was also tempted by the lime green Sloggers, but I already have a sage-colored pair. Still, when they're only $14.99, it's awfully hard to resist. And best of all, they're made right here in the USA.

I don't know where the super-cool, super-cheap Mai Tiki Gazebo is made, but given its asian motif and materials, it's not hard to guess. As for my gnomes, they come from the Land of Make Believe. As in, Make Believe it Doesn't Matter Where the Stuff We Buy is Manufactured. I try not to go there if I can help it, but Target knows just how to push my "spend" button.

We liked the gnomes so much we ended up buying four; one pair for the city; one set for the country. Do we really need them? Well, they make me laugh, and according to my colleague Marisa, a good laugh is just what the doctor ordered [6].