Shelton’s Nursery: Pink Elephant

Submitted by StoryTroy May 22nd, 2010
Certifikitsch Winner

My first girlfriend in ye olde teen years was the unbelievably awesome Marjorie Yambor, whose pop owned Shelton’s Nursery along State Road 60 in Brandon, Florida. While she herself was a work of art (memories abound of wild outfits, rubber bat necklaces, tri-colored eye shadow experiments and the most unique personal style of any of my pre-Allee acquaintances), it’s this pink elephant that greeted visitors to Shelton’s that we’ll be submitting today. I mean, I wish I could submit a whole person to the AWMoK, but that must be against some kind of rule.

This pink pachyderm had a buddy, too… a similarly outsized and even more mindbending George Washington atop a purple camel that I can’t locate any shots of, alas. These pics are reposted courtesy of Marjorie, seen here atop this pinkish tusk-adero on 12/31/04, the day Shelton’s shuttered after thirty years of satisfying local seedling-seekers and shrub-scouts.

As no submission of real kitsch is complete without including a slightly confusing twist (as if an elephant sellin’ flora ain’t enough), here’s a second snap that shows what else you could buy at Shelton’s… presumably to soothe the muscles after a hard day of yard tending.

9 Responses to “Shelton’s Nursery: Pink Elephant”

  1. Allee Willis

    I love this submission! Had Marjorie and I lived close to each other we would have most certainly been friends!

    Please tell me that the pink elephant and George Washington atop a purple camel that I’m dying we have no photo of remains in the family after Shelton’s closed. What the elephant or a camel have to do with a nursery I’ll never know but they certainly would have made me steer my car into the Shelton’s parking lot for my nursery needs.

    I love combo businesses. I’ve never seen a nursery that sold spas before but it actually makes completely perfect sense that you would pop one into the ground in the middle of all the little plants and trees you schleped home from Shelton’s.

    Is Marjorie still as personality filled today?

  2. StoryTroy

    Allee, I am pleased to report that Marjorie (now “Dr.”) Yambor is as deliciously vibrant, stylish and outspoken these days as she ever was.

  3. StoryTroy

    This just in from Marjorie… George Washington on a Camel and Pink Elephant are still on the property despite the shuttering of the nursery. Will return with new pictures after I swing home this summer.

  6. gothscape

    this is such an amazing site! most fabulous…

    my pere (arthur yambor) was a total paradise pioneer (or what’s now known as a landscape architect). the spas made their way into the business as he renegotiated his place in a shifting society littered with corp shops like home depot, lowe’s, and wal-mart. he was a perfectionist in his craft, and working with his hands was second nature for him (he held a bachelor’s in industrial arts). he was in the middle of a project for This Old House when he died 2.20.2004.

    he bought the elephant and camel back in the late 70s from a dude who owned a whataburger farther down highway 60. if something screamed “FUNK!” pere had to have it. that’s just the kind of kewl guy he was. i actually wanted to move the elephant to our family cemetery plot in kentucky, but the logistics of it shut the idea down (not to mention my mother was kind of freaking at the idea). indeed, the elephant’s true home is in brandon, where she is acknowledged and adored as an icon.

    :)

    peace & cotton candy!