The Epcot Flower and Garden Festival

One of the nearly half million flowers planted during the Flower and garden Festival is the Amaryllis, seen here in the United Kingdom pavilion. Photo by Don Fink.

The 25^th Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival is underway and it’s one of our favorite times at Walt Disney World, especially Epcot. It’s spring in Florida and the weather is usually cooperative; not too hot and humid, and not too much rain and a typical day is in the low ‘80s or high ‘70s.

The Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival is an annual event at Epcot that showcases, as you might expect by the name, gardening, the earth, and just about anything dealing with flowers, vegetable gardens, and so on.

While Epcot in its normal state is far from a wasteland with it’s typical Disney over-the-top landscaping, the international Flower and Garden Festival is yet another level of excellence. There are over 500,000 plants, trees, and shrubs planted for the Flower & Garden Festival each year. Of those, 250,000 are annual blossoms. And this year, because the festival runs for 90 days, there’ll be two crop rotations to keep the flowers fresh for the entire event. That seems like a lot of effort, but that’s Disney.

There were over 400 horticulturists needed to transform Epcot into the Flower & Garden landscape we see during the festival, and it takes 100 cast members dedicated to maintaining the display.

Lady and the Tramp can be found in Italy. It’s one of our favorite displays because of the flowing grasses that make up Lady’s ears. Photo by Bonnie Fink.

We focused our attention on the topiaries this year at the Flower & Garden Festival, you should remember that there’s plenty to do while you’re admiring the color.

There are 15 outdoor kitchens with over 70 different beverages and 40 featured food items. One outdoor kitchen to be sure to see is the new Honey Bee-stro. It’s located along the walkway from Future World West to Showcase Plaza. The kitchen is sponsored by the National Honey Board and features dishes like their Local Wildflower Honey-Mascarpone Cheesecake, with Orange Blossom Honey Ice Cream. For a beverage you might try a Honey-Peach Cobbler Freeze, served with Blueberry Vodka.

We can’t forget the Garden Rocks Concert Series. This year you’ll find old favorites like Herman’s Hermits (May 4^th through May 7^th), but you’ll also see seven new artists. Earlier during the Festival, we saw Jo Dee Messina. Being country fans like we are, this was a treat. She appeared on April 20^th and the 21^st. Hopefully she’ll return next year, and many of the artists do perform every year.

This year, the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival runs until May 28^th. If you happen to be in Florida, this is an event worth seeing.