With 30 million flowers and 300,000 bedding plants, there will be plenty to dazzle the eye at the 14th Annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival.

In this horticultural extravaganza, which opens Thursday, Mickey Mouse turns up as a pirate-themed topiary; Minnie Mouse as a princess-styled topiary; and a pirate-ship-shaped creation will be laden with flowers.

In all, 70 topiaries will dot the grounds of Walt Disney World Resort during the festival, now expanded from seven weeks to 60 days.

With workshops, demonstrations and talks scheduled every day, anyone who attends could have a problem deciding what to see and do.

But gardeners with a sharp eye and a game plan can take home more than colorful memories.

Amid this vividly hued spectacle are dozens of opportunities to pick up ideas and learn how to use them at home.

“We have had demonstrations and lectures before, but what is new is the hands-on focus,” says Eric Darden, the festival’s horticultural manager.

For example, garden experts from the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences of the University of Florida will talk twice a day in the Growing Future Gardeners garden. Visitors can ask questions and leave with a descriptive plant list.

“The whole festival will be more interactive,” Darden says. “We’re trying to get them out into the garden.”

Each week, many events are scheduled daily, but more events take place from Wednesday through Sunday. The hands-on approach of Disney Gardening at Home, for example, includes a variety of make-and-take projects and offers the expertise of Disney’s plant experts.

To get the most out of a visit to the festival, smart gardeners should consider scheduling their visits on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays.

Many of the events are listed online, so savvy gardeners can choose from one of nine themed weekends that best suits their purposes.

Our ever-growing interest in container gardening is reflected in 750 clay pots, barrels and urns filled with foliage plants, flowers, herbs and vegetables. But those who want to learn how to make their container gardens thrive might want to catch writer and gardener Pat Lanza April 13-15.

“Lasagna Gardening,” a talk based on her book of the same name, describes her organic layering system that promises results in small spaces, a method that also works as a way to garden successfully despite Florida’s poor soils.

Fun combinations fill the pots in the Growing Future Gardeners area, where themed containers will appeal to children while offering ideas to their parents. The pizza garden includes dwarf wheat, tomatoes, bell peppers, basil and oregano, planted in slice-shaped sections.

Chris Hassell, area manager, horticultural services, says other container themes include salsa, dinosaur and fairy gardens.

“The fairy garden has low-growing plants, such as chamomile, thyme, moss, dwarf mondo grass and a rosemary tree,” he says.

For note-takers, many of the displays and containers will sport plant identification tags.

Foodies might like to combine seeing the Dynamite Vegetable Garden and the Spices of Life exhibits with a stop at Orlando Sentinel columnist Tom MacCubbin’s talks on the edible landscape May 4-6.

The environmentally minded, or those who want to learn more, should consider a visit on the festival’s final weekend, June 1-3, when they could hear Georgia Tasker, Miami columnist and author. At the same time, they could check out the plants in the Wildlife Garden and the Florida’s Wildflowers area and stop at Water Works, a presentation about using water wisely in the home garden.

No matter the day, visitors should not miss the Art of Outdoor Living garden, an example of how to turn a backyard into an alternate living space with a tropical feel. Along with an outdoor kitchen and two outdoor living spaces, this area includes a demonstration of how to set up a cutting garden in Central Florida.

To start, the garden will include canna, cosmos, dianthus and gerbera daisies, then will have hydrangea, lavender and Easter lilies as the temperature rises over the course of the festival.

Kid-friendly events, such as twice-daily ladybug releases, abound throughout the festival, but parents who want to ignite a love for nature in their children might choose the I Dig Bugs weekend April 27-29.

Other themed weekends include Art in the Garden April 20-22 with plein-air artists, Florida Highwaymen painters and talks by famed Florida photographer Clyde Butcher. A Mother’s Day celebration May 11-13 will feature examples of flower arranging and talks by perfume specialist Raymond Western on plants and perfume in the Fragrance Garden.

If you go, take a notebook. Take a camera. Have some questions ready. But start any visit with a stop at the Garden Odyssey Festival Center, where a complete list of the day’s activities can be found.

To learn more, go to disneyworld.com/flower.

source : www.orlandosentinel.com

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