But Walt Disney World, just as the original Disneyland, is not like a botanical garden. Plants aren't set out to realize their ultimate potential—they have a very specific purpose. Walt Disney World's plants create atmosphere, enhance the theme of an attraction, help guide pedestrian traffic, screen backstage views, or just simply beautify the property. And they're removed as soon as they outgrow their purpose. In fact, gardeners here move flowers, shrubs, and trees with the same ease as some people rearrange furniture. Here, plants are dynamic things.

In all, Walt Disney World comprises about 28,000 acres, but what we feature here is the landscaping of the two theme parks almost everyone goes to see—the Magic Kingdom, where Mickey Mouse lives, and Epcot Center, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. The Magic Kingdom park features five lands— Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and Main Street, U.S.A.—each with its own flavor. For example, Adventureland is set in the tropics, so its attractions, such as the Jungle Cruise and Swiss Family Treehouse, are landscaped with tropical plants. Most of Frontierland represents the American West, so you'll see lots of trees, such as Texas mesquite, and cacti. Epcot Center is divided into two sections: Future World and World Showcase. Future World is made up of corporation-sponsored pavilions that address topics of concern to all of us in the years ahead—energy, transportation, agriculture, mariculture, communications, technology, and imagination. Its landscape is geometric, often pruned to present a controlled, managed look.

World Showcase features pavilions sponsored by the U.S.A. and nine other nations—Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, and the United Kingdom. Each is landscaped as it might took in its own country.

When visiting the theme parks, it's important to realize that the concept for an attraction originates with Disney artists by way of a storyboard—a plan for sequential images—the same as it would for a film. To their way of thinking, your eyes are like a camera so everything you see is considered a set prop—including the plants.

GARDENING CHALLENGES

Treating plants as simply another item on a set demands what Katy Moss Warmer, general manager of Parks Horticulture, calls creative horticulture—that is, getting more from plants than they would normally be expected to give. This means intense planning, scheduling, planting, and maintenance, iots of hard work, and most of all, originality.

In many cases, creative horticulture means coaxing plants that presumably aren't adapted to Central Florida to grow there anyway. "If we can push a plant a little farther south and get it to work here, we will," says Bill Coan, chief landscape architect, Walt Disney World. "If we can bring one a little farther north than what it's used to, we'll try it, too." For example, the Canada Showcase boasts Northern plants that have probably never been tried in the Orlando area—red stem dogwood, rhododendron, honey locust—and the gardeners find that, with professional attention, they work. At the Mexico Showcase, you'll find palms, frangipani, silver trumpet tree, and other marginally hardy tropicals that form a jungle surrounding the attraction's Mayan temple.

Designers and gardeners of World Showcase must re-create landscapes from climates as diverse as Canada, China, Morocco, and Mexico—all within a few hundred yards of each other. They can't limit themselves strictly to each country's native plants—that would be impossible—but they use as many as nature allows, and then work to achieve an indigenous look with substitutes similar in form and texture to the plants they can't use. For example, in Victoria Gardens, at the entrance to the Canada Showcase, deodar cedars represent the many conical evergreen trees one would find in that country.

Throughout the parks, the show and the guests share top billing, so no effort is too great if it adds to one's experience. For example, in what is probably the most photographed view in the Magic Kingdom, eight healthy live oaks are strategically placed to frame the vista to Cinderella Castle from Main-Street. The trick is that they must be kept at the same height and width year after year; otherwise, they would block the view.

"The inside contours of those trees have to be at certain proportions so you can see the castle," says Arborist Andrew Kittsley, "and that contour determines the proportion that the rest of the tree can take." So the Magic Kingdom's four-man tree crew, led by Kittsley, spends 20 hours each week in September and October climbing the trees like monkeys, to prune with saws and hand clippers every branch and twig on the 35-foot trees. That way the cuts are made in just the right place. "We have to lace out the whole canopy," explains Kittsley, "and make it very thin so that guests can see the castle through the trees. Mean- while, we must keep track of buds that will make new growth next year. It's a very intensive thing."

Creative horticulture also means trying different things, but the Disney gardeners can't afford any flops. They can hardly stake a CANCELED sign in an empty flowerbed. So when Gerry Braun, superintendent of Magic Kingdom landscape, dreamed up an intricate parterre-like planting for the circular flowerbed on axis with Cinderella Castle, he first tested it in his own backyard. It worked, so the next year they grew it in the park.

In 1982, when Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (a ride on a runaway mine train) opened, gardeners were challenged with growing cacti from the arid West in humid Florida weather. "It was just a matter of jumping in with both feet," says Gardener Lori Alien. "I did a lot of research on the side, identifying the cacti and their cultural requirements, and keeping a lot of data on their growth habit and how they adapt to the local climate." The Disney mot- to seems to be, "If there's a theme, there's a way."

Disney gardeners do the impossible by maintaining a landscape that's at its peak 365 days a year. The park never closes except at night. So, much of what they do is designed to cheat time. For example, in the Magic Kingdom's Swiss Family Treehouse, you're as likely to find a banana tree laden with fruit in January as in July. That's because of Ed Disney's (no relation) banana program. He and his Adventureland crew keep 50 more banana plants of staggered ages in a greenhouse at the Walt Disney World Nursery, When the plant in the show is about to lose its fruit, the next one takes its place.

One of the biggest jobs for gardeners is to keep things always looking fresh. The lawns look as if they never need cutting, because Disney gardeners mow them up to three times per week—usually before the gates open. "It really makes me feel good when guests reach down to see if the grass is real," says Dennis Higbie, superintendent of Epcot Center landscaping.

First thing each morning, gardeners inspect their area for anything that is less than perfect, such as spent blossoms and broken plants. Removing faded blossoms from the floral portrait of Mickey Mouse at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom constitutes a "shave" according to Guillermo Orta, who spends about 20 hours a week grooming the world's favorite mouse.

One to three times a day, parades featuring floats, bands, and Disney characters march down Main Street, and guests use raised flowerbeds along the parade route as a perch for a better view. By the end of the day, many of the plants along the edge have been trampled. No problem. By opening time the next morning, the gardeners have replaced them with full-size, blooming plants from the greenhouse.

In all, gardeners plant over a million annuals a year for the many seasonal flower shows at Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. In spring, flowerbeds filled with pastel shades of snapdragons and stocks are like a scene from an Impressionist's canvas. In summer, plant colors are bolder and brighter, such as red cannas and begonias, or yellow and orange marigolds. Holidays get special recognition. Key beds are filled with fragrant Easter lilies even though they last only two or three weeks. In December, large bells made from ivy hang in the Magic Kingdom, and there are Christmas cacti and poinsettias throughout. Over half the guests are there on a repeat visit, and the horticultural staff doesn't want anybody to see the same thing over and over again.

A DYNAMIC STAFF

It takes 145 gardeners, or cast members, as they are officially called, to keep such intense gardening going. Seventy cover the 260-acre Epcot Center, and 75 maintain the 100-acre Magic Kingdom.

Most hold horticulture degrees and have years of gardening experience. They're also graduates of an in-house College of Horticulture, a series of classes to train gardeners in Disney's exacting and artful style. And, they enjoy their work. "You get the feeling that they'd be doing this whether they worked here or not," says Katy Moss Warner.

The gardeners are impressively organized. Walkie-talkies buzz all day long with crews calling each other for assistance. Even though this is gardening, it's also show business, and quick communication with other gardeners, the nursery, pest control crew, irrigation crew, and other related departments is a must. Otherwise, the show might not go on. Backstage, gardeners zip around in golf carts and trucks. Orders for plants are maintained by computer, and the plants are delivered to the back door of the requested area. Everything is orchestrated, and everybody stays busy, yet gardeners always have time for guests' questions. "Every day, every gardener is asked: 'Do you want to come up to New Jersey and do my lawn?' " laughs Janet Gregorius, supervisor of Epcot Center landscaping. "We enjoy the interaction because we have people from all over the country— all over the world—asking questions."

On a typical day, gardeners start to work about 6 a.m. and leave at 2:30 p.m. But, if there is a big job to do, they will come in at whatever hour it takes. "When President Reagan was here, I got a call at 2 a.m.," says Dennis Higbie. "The sycamore trees by the America Garden Theatre would be encroaching on the President's view of Spaceship Earth when he spoke in the morning, so I had to round up the crew to go in and prune them."

When the temperature is predicted to be 35 degrees or lower, a frost crew may spend the entire night setting out gas heaters and smudge pots, and covering key plants with blankets. "In the morning, when all the gardeners come in, we pull out everything that didn't make it," says Dee Ganna, one of five Magic Kingdom landscape supervisors. Then they start re- planting immediately. Getting more annuals is not usually a problem because Florida growers often stock up in case of a freeze; it's their windfall.

GROWING THEIR OWN

Because the diverse themes and artful approach call for such a customized variety of plants, the horticulture staff must grow many of their own. A nursery crew of 24 operates an 80-acre tree farm for growing large trees and a 15-acre nursery complex for producing hanging baskets and topiaries, as well as for holding thousands of purchased plants. There are also test plots for evaluating the Central Florida performance of many plants.

It's only because of the tree farm that gardeners can replace 20-foot trees over-night. If a tree in the park should start declining, it's imperative to remove it, and there has to be a replacement on hand. So every year, 1,200 or so 3- to 4-foot trees are planted in the tree farm and grown to the appropriate size. In all, there are 5,000 to 15,000 trees, and the crew digs and transplants about 900 a year for the theme parks and other areas of the property.

Walt Disney was fond of plants and animals, so it's no surprise to see these combined in the form of topiaries—plants trained into the shapes of penguins, hippos, seals, and many Disney characters. There are over 100 topiaries highlighting the parks, and all are grown at the nursery. The topiaries begin with an artist's rendering. Then a sculptor makes a clay model and finally the full-size, wire topiary frame. Frames are set on large soil-filled cypress containers and planted with tried-and-true evergreens, such as yaupon, Japanese yew, and Blue Cone arborvitae.

Each design presents its own challenge because gardeners must train, prune, and coax plants to fill the whimsical shapes. For example, a giraffe will start with four shrubs, one planted at the base of each leg, and the most vigorous shrub is trained to eventually fill the neck. But, for a hippo poised on one toe, all of the frame must be filled from a single plant. Most topiaries take three to five years to produce, but the Mary Poppins inviting you to ride the Fantasyland carousel in the Magic Kingdom took six. Although Miss Poppins's body was trimmed from yaupon, her umbrella was originally bougainvillea, so that it would bloom bright pink. When a cold winter killed the bougainvillea three years ago, gardeners had to wait for a more cold-hardy replacement, pyracantha, to grow to the top. Now Mary's umbrella is white with flowers in spring, and orange with berries in fall and winter.

Hanging baskets are a big part of the nursery operation, too. They're prominent in Epcot's Italy and Canada and reinforce the Victorian theme along Main Street in the Magic Kingdom. Heather Will, working foreman of the nursery, produces nearly 1,400 baskets a year in one of the facility's nine greenhouses. That way, gardeners can custom design baskets for their particular sets, such as a mix of caladiums and chenille plants for the exotic Adventureland. The baskets are in carefully planned sets of 4 to 40. Gardeners watch their baskets as they would babies, be- cause if several are ruined, the whole set has to go. Otherwise, replacements would be mismatched. "We generally make two extra baskets of each set," says Heather, "but we also keep a backup set in case a fungus wipes out one set."

Besides serving as a production area, the nursery is also a holding area for the many flowers and other plants purchased from the outside. Truckloads of bedding plants are delivered here almost daily. Plants are carefully counted, labeled, and placed on the appropriate greenhouse bench, so that when a gardener from the park needs all or part of an order, it's easy to retrieve. A large bread truck lined with metal racks makes the deliveries to the appropriate attraction in the park.

The greenhouses also provide support for special projects. For example, when the Swiss Family Treehouse was refurbished two years ago (every attraction is re-evaluated every seven years), it took nearly a year to find tropical plants such as pineapple and coffee. As the exotics came in. they were stored in one of the greenhouses until the attraction was finally ready for planting. Two days after all 300 plants were set out, a freeze threatened, and gardeners dug them all up and returned them to the greenhouse for protection during two cold nights.

INFLUENCE OUTSIDE THE GATE

Because of the ever-present need to find plants that fit the park's many themes, the nursery staff maintains plots for the testing of new annuals, perennials, trees, and shrubs. The results eventually affect many Florida gardeners, because if a new plant proves successful for the Florida climate, word gets out. Before long it may be seen in local retail nurseries.

One such testing program is in cooperation with the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. The arboretum sends plant explorers to China and other areas rich in flora to bring back new species for trial and hybridization. Any of those that have landscape potential at Walt Disney World are set out in rows there, and carefully labeled so that gardeners can evaluate such things as bloom, disease resistance, and tolerance to heat and cold. This is one of the National Arboretum's southern-most testing grounds.

There is also a yearly flower trial where Heather Will evaluates over 150 annuals from different seed companies. Results are published by the nursery in a booklet. Seed companies, local growers, and landscape designers rely on it for an overall evaluation of the plant's appearance and practical considerations such as heat tolerance and resistance to diseases and battering rain.

Gardeners are starting to test perennials, too. "We're looking at new varieties of things that have been successful in the past and new species," says Warner. "But we're not necessarily looking for perennials that last year to year. Our goat is to have a show out there. We want the effect of a perennial garden even if it means we have to replant." In the meantime, they make a great contribution by learning which ones are truly perennial in the area.

The parks themselves are a powerful promotion of good horticulture and landscape design. "The best thing about Disney World is the influence," says Dennis Higbie. "We get a lot of people through here—influential ones, too—and they go home with the example. The other day a minister called me. He wanted to know more about the sycamore trees that shade the benches for the America Gardens Theatre because his church was building an outdoor space. That's what I mean."

Every year the Disney garden staff hosts dozens of landscape architects, nursery-men, landscape contractors, arborists- and other landscape professionals for an assortment of professional meetings and practical seminars . . . and they leave with lots of new ideas.

Some of the horticultural ripples come directly from the day-to-day operations, too. When staff members want a bedding plant that may have done well in their trials but isn't common in the wholesale trade, they contract with a nurseryman to grow it. "The growers often end up producing a couple hundred more than we need," says Katy Moss Warner, "and those go somewhere else in the industry. That's what happened with lisianthus. We got it from Japan (where it's grown as a cut flower) and put it out as a bedding plant in pink, white, and blue. That's when it started hitting the marketplace."

FOR AN INSIDE VIEW

If you plan to visit Disney World and want. to know more about its horticulture, you can sign up for tours and seminars offered several times a week. "Planting Ideas" is a three-hour seminar in which a staff member discusses the role of landscaping, then leads a behind-the-scenes tour of the tree farm and nursery.

"The Gardens of the World" seminar begins with a film that shows the building of the Epcot Center Landscape, explaining how and why plants were chosen. This is followed by a guided tour of the landscapes of the World Showcase.

"Exploring Nature: A True-life Adventure" is a tour for children ages 10 to 15. Concurrent with Walt Disney's belief that "our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children," this seminar reinforces our responsibility to protect the environment. Stops on the tour include the Magic Kingdom's Discovery Island, the Topiary Farm, Walt Disney World's Zoo logical Park and the 7,500-acre Wilderness Preserve.

So if you have a horticultural bent, you'll surely find Walt Disney World as fascinating for its plants as for the other shows it offers. As Walter Elias Disney put it, "We have always tried to be guided by the basic idea that, in the discovery of knowledge, there is great entertainment— as, conversely, in all good entertainment there is always some grain of wisdom, humanity, or enlightenment to be gained."