Before we made our first family trip (and my first trip) to Disney World, we got a lot of great advice from friends on what to do (Chef Mickey’s), what to take (strollers!) and what to buy when we got there (autograph books). The one thing no one mentioned, however? The gardens. Maybe it was because we left the brown Midwest to a Disney World in full bloom that the gardens seemed as magical as the rest of the place. Maybe it was just the overall vibe and the welcome warmth. Maybe I’m just a flower freak. But I’m guessing it was mostly because no detail in the Magic Kingdom seems to be overlooked, right down to every last green space.
While there were topiaries everywhere, my favorite was in Fantasyland. On the Alice in Wonderland topiary, variegated ivy formed her pinafore, giving a pop of contrast against the rest of greenery.
Even landscape left to it’s own devices, like Spanish moss-covered trees, was transformed at night by lighting.
While I’m not going to go topiary crazy or create a giant Mickey head in the backyard, our trip has definitely inspired me to think on a different scale.
In my shade gardens, I tend to go for height and layers, building up around trees. Yet one of the features of the beds at Disney that struck me the most was the bare tree bases. Whether it was repeating rows of cyclamens, a mass of violas or groupings of tickseed, the trees became sculptural. Of course it helps that there were thousands of dollars worth of plants and a team of horticulturists to keep them perfect, but the idea is definitely something I can try on a smaller scale. What’s your garden inspiration for the spring? — Sarah L.
