Bloomin’ beauty -- Nearly 12 percent of the Walt Disney World Resort property -- an area equivalent to nearly 3,000 football fields -- is devoted to gardens and maintained landscapes. That’s 4,000 acres worth of beauty.

King-size bed -- Three million bedding plants and annuals are planted each year. The largest bed, at The Land at Epcot, measures 20,000 square feet and contains up to 20,000 seasonal plants.

Inside-out and all about! -- Horticulturists use 8,500 interior plants each year and add 6,000 trees to the exterior landscapes throughout Walt Disney World Resort . . . and they maintain some two million shrubs in landscapes.

Landscape Buffet -- The African savannah of Disney’s Animal Kingdom was designed with munching in mind. Elephants, giraffes, antelope and other creatures eat and play with the theme park landscape, so landscape designers created a 94-acre “browse farm” to replace natural forage including acacia, hibiscus, mulberry and shrubs.

Hanging out -- More than 5,000 hanging baskets are produced each year and are planned a year in advance to theme with seasonal flowering trees, bedding plants and surrounding architecture. Most baskets take three months to produce . . . Hangings grow to three feet in diameter and may weigh more than 65 pounds . . . Some 800 baskets are displayed at one time.

We do promise a rose garden -- Nearly 13,000 roses are shown throughout the Disney property. Removing spent blooms in the rose gardens of Epcot requires a good day’s work each week -- more than 400 hours per year.

Plants of the world -- More than 2,500 plant species are shown . . . They represent flora from all over the United States and 50 other nations on every continent except Antarctica.

Chlorophyll zoo -- Topiary number more than 200 -- composed of shrub or sphagnum moss planted with “creeping fig” and English ivy vine material. Pete’s dragon, Elliot, is the largest shrub character topiary at Walt Disney World Resort. Grown and trained for 10 years, this Podocarpus macrophyllus is over 10 feet tall and 14 feet from head to tail.

Mowing for miles -- 450,000 mowing miles, to be exact -- that’s what it takes to maintain 2,000 acres of turf. For the record, those mower miles are the equivalent of 18 trips around Earth at the equator.

Good bugs -- An army of 12.5 million beneficial insects is released each year to control plant pests . . . A single adult predatory beetle can eat up to 500 white fly eggs a day.

Good people -- A diverse group of over 650 horticulture professionals -- gardeners, arborists, irrigation specialists and pest management specialists -- join the bugs in keeping the flora beautiful.

 

Recommend this page to a friend

Discuss this at the message boards.

 

 

 

Disney World - The Online Guide is not affiliated with, maintained by, or in any way officially connected with the Walt Disney Company.

Walt Disney World & it's theme parks, resorts, attractions & area names are trademarks of The Walt Disney Company. All information contained in Disney World - The Online Guide, including prices, dates, times, availability, is subject to change & not official. Joanne will not be held liable for any information (valid or invalid) presented on any page in this site, and will not be held responsible for anything that happens as a result of following advice or information on this site, and does not represent the Walt Disney Company in any manner.

© text, photos, background images, artwork are all copyright Disney World - The Online Guide 1998-2002.
Text and/or photos & artwork may not be used in any way, shape, or form without permission from Joanne.