Every spring, Epcot plays host to an event called the Flower and Garden Festival. This year is no different, as the 15th annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival comes to Walt Disney World from March 19th to June 1st. Last year’s 60-day event was so popular, that this year, Disney has expanded the event to a full 75 days with its first-ever March launch, offering lots of floral and gardening fun to be had by all.
This year, as guests enter the park near Spaceship Earth, they'll spot a 14-foot Goofy topiary riding a 6-foot wave of flowers and plants. Sandcastles, palm trees and starfish will surround Mickey and Minnie topiaries posed on a floral beach towel spread upon a sandy “beach.” At World Showcase Plaza, Disney topiary specialists will craft a volleyball beach scene starring Donald Duck and Daisy. Nearby, a topiary Pluto will frolic with topiary sand crabs while colorful Stitch from "Lilo and Stitch" keeps watch from a lifeguard stand. Get it? it’s a beach theme…
Of course, beach-themed topiaries and floral designs aren’t the only offering during the Flower and Garden Festival. Let’s take a look at some of the other events:
- Peter Pan's Neverland Garden, a children's area, will open along Imagination Walkway from Future World to World Showcase. The pirate ship-themed garden will feature whimsical topiaries of Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Tinker Bell and Tic Toc Croc, as well as a shaded play structure.
- The islands of World Showcase Lagoon will sprout gigantic, multi-hued topiary flowers (I hope they don’t catch fire during Illuminations).
- Sweeping Future World flower beds planted on the shores of East and Wst Lakes will take the shape of nautical flags representing letters (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc.) that spell a message to be decoded by guests.
- The Three Caballeros -- Donald Duck, Jose Carioca and Panchito, will come to life as topiaries to celebrate their new Epcot show, "Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros" in the Mexico pavilion.
- Other Disney characters like Lady and the Tramp and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will make topiary appearances for perfect photo ops in the park.
- Minnie's Magnificent Butterfly Garden returns with hundreds of butterflies in a walk-through screened enclosure featuring a live exhibit showing how caterpillars form a chrysalis and emerge as butterflies
In all, there will be up to 70 topiaries -- plus 30 million blooms, artfully designed floral beds, expertly crafted bonsai trees and lush rose gardens -- accenting the 300 acres of Future World and World Showcase. As you can probably tell, it takes a lot of work to keep these floral designs lush and green. To keep flowers and plants at their peak, Disney's horticultural team will plant two crop rotations during the fest, allowing for a more brilliant floral display for the festival's duration.
Beyond the topiaries and floral presentations, the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is known by gardening aficionados for its celebrity guest speakers, hands-on seminars and innovative planting demonstrations and exhibits such as a new Florida-style outdoor living display. Disney has a huge lineup for its Great American Gardener series, which continues each Friday-Sunday through June 1 and is presented in partnership with the American Horticultural Society. Some of the most respected gardeners and nature experts in the country reveal tips and share entertaining stories during the presentations open to all Epcot guests at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. Here is a complete schedule of guest speakers:
- Roger Swain (March 19-20): Gardening Bright from the Start -- "The Victory Garden" veteran celebrates gardening with an eye-catching, mouth-watering, planet-saving discussion of America's favorite hobby.
- Joe Lamp'l (a.k.a. joe gardener) (March 21-23): Green Gardening -- Joe helps gardening aficionados find new ways to "go green" and connect with the earth using practical information and environmentally friendly tips.
- Ellen Zachos (March 28-30): Prehistoric Planting -- Zachos shows you how to plant a dinosaur garden -- the perfect playground for kids of all ages.
- Shirley Bovshow (April 4-6): 'Out of the Box' Garden Design -- TV host and garden designer Bovshow gives "out of the box" ideas on artistic design, elevating common landscape elements like fences and garden beds to art status.
- Jeffrey Restuccio (April 11-13): Get Fit Through Gardening -- Based on his Get Fit Through Gardening book, Restuccio shares how to reduce back strain and muscle soreness and transform gardening into a lifelong fitness and wellness program.
- Tovah Martin (April 18-20): Garden Secrets and Stewardship -- Well-known author and TV guest on PBS's "Cultivating Life," Martin shares secrets from the country's top "green" experts and shows how to bring gardens with a past into the future.
- Felder Rushing (April 25-27): Slow Gardening -- Renowned horticulturist, NPR host and author of award-winning Passalong Plants, Rushing shares practical tips for all-year beauty using tough shrubs, flowers, herbs and even "designer" vegetables grown in containers and flower beds.
- Tom MacCubbin (May 2-4): Whole Garden Foods -- Florida garden writer, media personality and extension agent Tom MacCubbin shares how to make your landscape pay its way by growing foods you can put on the table.
- Raymond Western (May 9-11): Plants and Perfume -- Guerlain perfume expert Raymond Western offers insights into the history of fragrances and explores the relationship between plants and perfume.
- Robert Bowden (May 16-18): Maximizing Weekend Gardening -- Gardening expert, author and director of lush Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Bowden discusses plants with unusual textures, habits and colors for weekend fun with the home landscape.
- Melinda Myers (May 23-25): Saving Space -- TV host and nationally known gardening expert Myers shares simple, creative ideas for packing a lot of garden into a small space or creating an intimate garden within a large lot. Discover tips and techniques for designing and maintaining year-round gardens from ground to roofline.
- Jon Carloftis (May 31-June 1): Integrating Nature Inside and Out -- Author of First A Garden and Beyond the Windowsill, Carloftis offers insightful tips to integrate plants and nature in every aspect of life -- from interior spaces to urbanscapes.
Another popular part of the Flower and Garden Festival, is its Flower Power concert series. Flower Power concerts strike a lively, nostalgic chord daily at America Gardens Theatre at 5:45, 7 and 8:15 p.m. and are included with regular Epcot admission. Here's the lineup (subject to change):
- March 19 - 22 The Guess Who
- March 23 - 24 Petula Clark
- March 25 - 29 Paul Revere and the Raiders
- March 30 - 31 : The Fifth Dimension
- April 1 - 3 The Nelsons
- April 4 - 5 Jay Black
- April 6 - 9 Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone
- April 10 - 12 The Grass Roots Starring Rob Grill
- April 14 - 16 The Happenings
- April 17 - 18 Peter & Gordon
- April 19 - 23 Starship Starring Mickey Thomas
- April 24 - 26 The Ventures
- April 27 - 30 B.J. Thomas
- May 1 - 3 Arlo Guthrie
- May 4 - 5 The Searchers
- May 6 - 10 The Tokens
- May 11 - 15 Davy Jones
- May 16 - 17 Jose Feliciano
- May 18 - 20 Felix Cavaliere's Rascals
- May 21 - 24 Gary Puckett
- May 25 - 27 The Cowsills
- May 28 - June 1: Tony Orlando
While the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is included with regular Epcot admission, there are additional events that cost an additional charge. In the past, Epcot has offered a Garden Discovery Tour. This three-hour tour is essentially a special Festival version of the Gardens of the World tour, which runs year round at Epcot. The tour guides are Disney gardeners, who can go into as much detail as you want about the various plants and flowers used in the displays and how each is created. Some of the topiary are temporary and are destroyed just weeks after the Festival ends. Even the permanent topiaries only have a lifetime of seven years and once the frames can no longer be used, they are melted down. If you’re interested, just call Disney for more information.
Easter and Mother’s Day Brunch are two other popular events offered at the World Showcase Pavilion (in between the United Kingdom and Canada pavilions). This year, Easter Brunch is on Sunday, March 23, 2008 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The price is $46.99 for guests 10 and up and $19.99 for guests 3-9. Stay tuned for more info about Mother’s Day Brunch!
So what this very long article all boils down to is the 15th Annual Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival is a lot more than a bunch of flower arrangements around the World Showcase lagoon. Far from it. On top of the aesthetically pleasing and amazingly designed topiaries and floral designs that nicely accentuate Epcot, there are some educational opportunities for the “green thumbs” in all of us, and some great music to be enjoyed during the spring season. If you have never been down to the World during Flower and Garden, why not take a look and see for yourself – you might have your own 14-foot Surfing Goofy topiary in your front yard too!
Until next time!
