Monday, May 17, 2010

Disney Topiaries at Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival

As anyone who’s ever stepped foot in a Disney park can also attest, Disney does gardens well. Perhaps that's a bit of an understatement. Nobody does gardens like Disney does gardens is a more accurate proclamation.

Once a year Epcot celebrates the Disney history of fantastic, richly detailed gardens by hosting their International Flower and Garden Festival. The festival was held few years back and now recently held in the weekend in Walt Disney World and were thrilled when weekend coincided with this year’s festivities. As if Epcot wasn’t breathtaking enough, the Flower and Garden Festival adds a whole other layer of eye candy to gaze at.

One of the features each year is something Disney Horticulture has always been famous for and that’s topiaries. Topiaries have been at Disneyland as far back as the early 60’s, requested by Walt himself, and they’ve been at Walt Disney World since it’s opening in 1971. I’m a sucker for Mickey topiary and there are hundreds of other character’s carved into ivy throughout Disney World. It’s hard to pick a favorite but I love the elephant in front of Dumbo, the sea monster in the Magic Kingdom’s hub, and Sorcerer Mickey at Hollywood Studios.

Several of the topiaries at this year’s Festival have been there before and they’re always a welcome sight. Others were either new to the festival or new to us as festival goers. All in all there were more than 70 topiaries to enjoy at Epcot.