AA-2026-0E6575
On the image
Somebody decided, at some point in the 1950s, that the correct way to enrich a formal lawn was to release several dozen flamingos onto it and let nature take its confused, camera-ready course. The birds oblige by standing around in the loose, pink-tinted manner of guests at a cocktail party who have not yet found anyone worth talking to, while the fountain in the pond behind them throws up water with the tireless enthusiasm of a municipal engineer proud of his pump.
A lone figure in the middle distance, bent over what may be a small dog, tends the grounds with the unhurried confidence of a man who has done this every day of a long Florida career and expects the flamingos to still be there tomorrow, arranged just as artfully. The agave spears crowding the foreground were planted to frame the view and instead mostly succeed in threatening the ankles of anyone who steps off the path.
This is the golden age of the roadside botanical attraction, when Florida perfected the trick of making captive tropical birds look like a natural feature of the landscape rather than a paid admission. The flamingos, for their part, appear to have accepted the arrangement without complaint, on the theory that free food beats wild dignity every time.
Visually related — by likeness
Flamingo Lawn and Fountain Pond, Florida Garden Attraction, 1950s. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-0E6575. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/flamingo-lawn-and-fountain-pond-florida-garden-attraction-1950s.
@misc{aaAA20260E6575,
title = {Flamingo Lawn and Fountain Pond, Florida Garden Attraction, 1950s},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-0E6575},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/flamingo-lawn-and-fountain-pond-florida-garden-attraction-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Flamingo Lawn and Fountain Pond, Florida Garden Attraction, 1950s PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-0E6575 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/flamingo-lawn-and-fountain-pond-florida-garden-attraction-1950s ER -
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