1/7/2024 0 Comments Pink yard flamingos![]() The birds briefly went extinct in 2006, when Union Products stopped producing them and went out of business due to financial woes and the rising costs of electricity and plastic resins.In 1996, Featherstone was awarded Improbable Research's Ig Nobel Prize for art, in recognition of his "ornamentally evolutionary invention.".When his signature was removed in 2001 (Featherstone had retired from Union Products in 2000, after 43 years of service), a boycott ensued it was soon restored. To help consumers distinguish the "official" flamingos from the fakes, Featherstone added his signature to the original molds in 1987 - the birds' 30th anniversary - inscribing his name their rumps, beneath the tail feathers. By the 1990s, it had become a popular housewarming gift.ĭon Featherstone's signature on an "official" plastic pink flamingo. The bird became the ultimate marker for crossing boundaries of every conceivable kind. But the baby boomers were also carrying the flamingo in backpacks across Europe, and kayaking with it through the wilderness. As the New York Times wrote in 2006:īy the 1980s, flamingo-themed installations were appearing in avant-garde galleries. In the 1980s and '90s, the infamously tacky lawn ornaments experienced a huge resurgence in popularity, having become a symbol of rebellion.Drawing inspiration from the pink flamingo's status as an icon of bad taste, director John Waters released the movie Pink Flamingos in 1972 the controversial film starred a drag queen named Divine, carried the tagline "An exercise in poor taste," and went on to achieve cult status.But as hippies railed against them in the 1960s because they were mass-produced and unnatural, the pink poseurs quickly became the patron saints of all that is trashy and tawdry. The birds were a hit with working-class homeowners.One listing in the spring 1958 catalog wooed potential buyers with the promise, "Lovely pink coloring forms a handsome contrast against the green of your lawn and shrubbery." The artificial avians were first sold in twos in the Sears Roebuck catalog - where they were described as a "full-round flamingo pair" - for the cost of $2.76.At the time, pink was a very trendy color. Featherstone was specifically asked to sculpt a flamingo after working on designs for a girl with a watering can, a boy with a dog, and a duck.Then a fresh-out-of-art-school sculptor who'd been hired specifically to create 3D plastic lawn and garden ornaments, Featherstone couldn't get his hands on a real live flamingo, so he modeled his prototypes after photos he'd seen in National Geographic. Designed in 1957, the pink plastic lawn flamingo was one of Featherstone's earliest projects at Union Products in Leominster, Massachusetts.Indeed, the "flight" of the Phoenicopterus ruber plasticus is a long and storied one. ![]() Thank you for your support & I hope your purchase brings you a little sunshine indoors.The pantheon of American lawn kitsch has lost a legend: Don Featherstone, creator of the pink plastic lawn flamingo, died on Monday at age 79, just hours shy of Pink Flamingo Day.įeatherstone may not have been a household name - apt though his name was - but his memory will forever live on in the injection-molded relics of the past. To assist with growth & flowering use cactus feed in every other watering. ![]() As a rule of thumb it's good to re-pot your cactus or succulent every 2-4 years, either if it's grown enough to go up a pot size, but mainly to replenish the soil's nutrients.Ĭacti & Succulents prefer light & warmth, but avoid direct sun as they can burn. Also each parcel includes a layer of extra stones for the pot bottom to help with drainage for roots & extra acidic cactus soil. Your concrete planter porous so the pot itself recreates a rocky base and imitates the natural layers for drainage that the plants enjoy from their desert home. Ideally use a spray bottle or mister & try not to water the actual plant, but the soil directly around the base. During the winter cold season cacti and succulents become dormant so you do not need to water them, give them a lil winter break. This can range depending the environment, but usually once a month in cooler seasons & no more than twice a month in warmer seasons. Your cactus wants 'dry feet' as its typical terrains are dry & arid, so go easy on H2O so the roots don't rot. ![]() The most common cactus or succulent killer is over watering. ![]() Cactus Care Tips: The most common question I get asked is 'How NOT to kill your Cactus'Ĭactus Tips: Luckily our little prickly friends are hearty creatures & are built for mother nature's land of neglect. ![]()
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