HGTV Sponsors 18th Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
Star Designers Bring Expertise to New HGTV Stage
HGTV kicks up the "curb appeal" of the 18th Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival March 2 through May 15 with a first-time sponsorship featuring weekend appearances by its acclaimed designers and landscaping experts. The star-studded lineup includes Genevieve Gorder, Lisa LaPorta, Kim Myles, Brian Patrick Flynn, Taniya Nayak, Ahmed Hassan, Patti Moreno, Michele Beschen, John Gidding, Frank Fontana, and Vern Yip.
The country's leading home and lifestyle television brand brings an addictive blend of design, decorating and landscaping inspiration to the enduring, 75-day gardening extravaganza at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
At the Festival Center presented by HGTV, popular celebrity experts will appear each Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the festival on the HGTV Stage. The HGTV hosts will deliver valuable tips to Disney guests on topics including "Mobile Gardens," "Secrets to Bringing Indoor Style Outside" and "Gardening with Kids."
"We are thrilled to welcome HGTV and so many of the network's great Talent to Epcot this spring," said Dan Cockerell, vice president of Epcot. "HGTV's design and gardening personalities add an exciting, and entertaining new element to a festival that reinvents itself year after year."
As part of the sponsorship, HGTV also will present a new, twice-its-previous-size Bambi's Butterfly House along the Future World Imagination Walkway. Inside this popular festival stop are hundreds of native butterflies and character topiaries from the timeless Disney classic film, "Bambi." This year's display celebrates the upcoming release of "Bambi" Diamond Edition, for the first time on Blu-ray Hi-Def.
"People visit Disney for a memorable experience where they are inspired, enlightened and entertained," said Jim Samples, president, HGTV. "Our star designers will provide just such an experience for the Disney guest during The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival presented by HGTV. Disney is the ideal venue and destination for us to connect face-to-face with our passionate viewers."
The HGTV celebrity lineup includes:
Genevieve Gorder, HGTV Design Star and Dear Genevieve (Mar 4-6)
The Art of Sculpting Space
Lisa LaPorta, Designed to Sell (March 11-13)
Design It Yourself: Easy-to-follow Tips for Designing Your Favorite Rooms
Kim Myles, Myles of Style (March 18-20)
The 5 DIY Secrets That Can Transform Any Space
Brian Patrick Flynn, Design Happens, HGTV.com (March 25-27)
Mobile Gardens
Taniya Nayak, Designed to Sell and Destination Design (April 1-3)
Adding Value to Your Home Without Breaking the Bank
Ahmed Hassan, Yard Crashers (April 8-10)
Life, Love and Landscaping
Patti Moreno, Garden Girl, HGTV.com (April 15-17)
Gardening with Kids: Fun Seed Starting Projects
Michele Beschen, B. Original (April 22-24)
When Nature Calls: Creative, Back-to-Basics Style for All Things Natural and Decorative
John Gidding, Curb Appeal: The Block (April 29-May 1)
The Design Process: Curb Appeal Projects from Concept to Construction
Frank Fontana, Design on a Dime (May 6-8)
Beautiful on a Budget: High Style, Low-Cost Secrets to Bringing Indoor Styling Outside
Frank Fontana from HGTV is
scheduled to appear at the 2011 Flower & Garden Festival.
Say...this doesn't look like
Frank Fontana, does he?? You know, the newsman who worked with
Murphy on the TV show "Murphy Brown"??!!
Vern Yip, HGTV Design Star (May 13 -15)
Top Design Trends Made Affordable and Accessible
In addition to its own celebrity stage appearances, HGTV will present the popular twice-daily Disney Gardening at Home series, where guests can join a workshop and take home projects ranging from hanging baskets to water garden features. The Festival Center's HGTV Theater will present a special-engagement film featuring tips and hints from HGTV shows.
Dozens of Disney character topiaries are back by popular demand at this year's festival. Woody, Buzz Lightyear and chief villain Lotso of the Oscar-nominated Disney blockbuster, "Toy Story 3," make their first topiary appearance in front of Spaceship Earth at the park's front-entrance garden. Topiary craftsmen also will debut floral versions of Lightning McQueen and Mater, stars of "Cars 2," to be released in theaters this June.
Flower Power concerts will rock the open-air America Gardens Theatre stage three times each Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening with popular acts like Davy Jones and Chubby Checker & The Wildcats. New-to-the-festival performers will include Melissa Manchester, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.
More information about the 18th annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is available by calling 407/W-DISNEY (934-7639) or by visiting
disneyworld.com/flower. The festival, including all gardening programs, presentations and exhibits, is included in regular Epcot admission.
Festival Center Abuzz with Garden and Design Know-How
During Epcot Flower & Garden Festival Presented by HGTV
The Festival Center at the 18th annual Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival presented by HGTV will be alive with expert-led seminars, demonstrations, discussions and Q&A sessions daily throughout the 75-day event that begins March 2 at Walt Disney World Resort.
Located next to Mission: Space in Future World at Epcot, the Festival Center showcases HGTV and HGTV.com celebrities on weekends and other experts -- including "Master Gardeners" from University of Florida, Walt Disney World Horticulturists and a mix of national and regional TV/radio personalities, authors and educators -- seven days a week. Here's what's happening:
The HGTV Designers' Stage in the Festival Center features presentations daily at noon and 3 p.m. on a broad range of garden and design topics -- beginning with "Butterflies & Beyond" by entomologist Jaret Daniels on the opening two days of the festival. Each Friday, Saturday and Sunday through May 15, popular experts from HGTV will take over, beginning with Genevieve Gorder (HGTV Design Star and Dear Genevieve) March 4-6 on the topic "The Art of Sculpting Space."
Meanwhile, at the Festival Center's Greenhouse Stage daily at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., Disney Horticulturists, authors and educators will share tips and secrets guests can plant in their own garden. These limited-space sessions include interactive hands-on discoveries during which guests make something to take home.
Experts from University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) present Planting Pointers -- gardening ideas for everyone -- daily at 1 and 4 p.m. Guests also can Ask an Expert -- a UF/IFAS "Master Gardener" -- their gardening questions from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Here are topics and speakers scheduled for HGTV Designers' Stage and Greenhouse Stage:
HGTV Designers' Stage
Presentations daily at noon and 3 p.m.
(HGTV/HGTV.com celebrity distinctions are noted in parentheses)
March 2-3: "Butterflies & Beyond" -- Jaret C. Daniels
March 4-6: "The Art of Sculpting Space" -- Genevieve Gorder (HGTV Design Star and Dear Genevieve)
March 7-10: "Passalong Plants" -- Felder Rushing
March 11-13: "Design It Yourself: Easy-to-follow Tips for Designing Your Favorite Rooms" -- Lisa LaPorta (Designed to Sell)
March 14-17: "Grow Great Grub" -- Gayla Trail
March 18-20: "The 5 DIY Secrets That Can Transform Any Space" -- Kim Myles (Myles of Style)
March 21-24: "10 Heirloom Plants You Should Be Growing" / "New & Exciting Plants for Every Garden" -- Danielle Sherry
March 25-27: "Mobile Gardens" -- Brian Patrick Flynn (Design Happens, HGTV.com)
March 28-31: "Secrets of the Garden Revealed & More Plants For Free" -- Ken Druse
April 1-3: "Adding Value to Your Home without Breaking the Bank" -- Taniya Nayak (Designed to Sell and Destination Design)
April 4-7: "Four Season Garden & Proven Combinations" -- Erica Glasener
April 8-10: "Life, Love and Landscaping" -- Ahmed Hassan (Yard Crashers)
April 11-14: "Container Gardening: From Dirt to Design & The Secret to Combining Plants" -- Steve Aitken
April 15-17: "Gardening with Kids: Fun Seed Starting Projects" -- Patti Moreno (Garden Girl, HGTV.com)
April 18-21: "Year-round Garden-tainment" -- Melinda Myers
April 22-24: "Creative, Back-to-Basics Style for All Things Natural and Decorative" -- Michele Beschen (B. Original)
April 25-28: "Herbal Blends from Around the World" -- Susan Belsinger & Tina Marie Wilcox
April 29-May 1: "The Design Process: Curb Appeal Projects from Concept to Construction" -- John Gidding (Curb Appeal: The Block)
May 2-5: "The Small-Budget Gardener" -- Maureen Gilmer
May 6-8: "Beautiful on a Budget: High Style, Low Cost Secrets to Bringing Indoor Styling Outside" -- Frank Fontana (Design on a Dime)
May 9-12: "Slow Gardening" -- Felder Rushing
May 13-15: "Top Design Trends Made Affordable and Accessible" -- Vern Yip (HGTV Design Star)
Greenhouse Stage
Presentations daily at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
(Visit the Festival Center for topics on days not noted)
March 4-6: "Groceries from the Garden" -- Robert Bowden
March 10-13: "Gardening for all Generations" -- Brenda Sandberg & Scott Hulett
March 17-20: "Gardening in Miniature" -- Joseph Rainey
March 24-27: "Helpful Mower & Small Equipment Tips" -- Scott Franklin
March 31-April 3: "Tropical Edibles" -- Jarrod Stewart
April 7-10: "Fun Holiday Projects" -- Doug Benedict
April 15-17: "Gardening Challenges" -- Tom MacCubbin
April 21-24: "Seed, Sow & Grow" -- Ed Buhler
April 28-May 1: "Inspiring Patio Designs" -- Allison Brooks
May 6-8: "Mastery & Mind in Living Flowers" -- Ricardo Bansho Carrasco
May 12-15: "A to Z on Herbs" -- Tracy Fischer
The presentations are included with Epcot admission, but seating is limited and on a first-come basis. Speakers, presentations and guests are subject to change without notice. For more Epcot International Flower & Garden information, visit
disneyworld.com/flower.
2011 Flower Power Concert Series Returns with Favorite Pop, Rock & Roll, R&B Hit-Makers
The Flower Power Concert Series is back at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival this spring. Which means artists involved with hit songs of the 1960s through the '90s will be on stage each Friday-Sunday from March 4 through May 15, 2011.
Collectively, the 11 artists performing this spring at Walt Disney World Resort were involved in 133 Billboard Top 40 hits -- 58 Top 10s including 16 No. 1 chart-toppers.
Biggest hit-makers in the lineup: Chubby Checker (22 Top 40s) and Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone (18). Newcomers Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr., a husband-wife duo, were founding members of the '60s-'70s group The 5th Dimension that produced 20 Top 40 hits.
This year's lineup includes one other newcomer: Melissa Manchester.
Performances are at America Gardens Theatre at 5:15, 6:30 and 7:45 p.m. each Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the 18th annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. Here's the lineup (subject to change without notice):
March 4-6 -- Jose Feliciano
March 11-13 -- The Guess Who
March 18-20 -- Chubby Checker & The Wildcats
March 25-27 -- Melissa Manchester
April 1-3 -- Starship starring Mickey Thomas
April 8-10 -- Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.
April 15-17 -- Juice Newton
April 22-24 -- Ricky Nelson Remembered featuring The Nelsons
April 29-30, May 1 -- Paul Revere & The Raiders
May 6-8 -- Davy Jones
May 13-15 -- Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone
Hey,
Hey, It's Davy Jones -- The ever-so-dreamy Davy Jones, best
known as the front man
for the '60s sensation "The Monkees," will rock the
house during the Flower Power Concert
series held during the annual Epcot International Flower &
Garden Festival this Mother's Day weekend.
Flower Power performances are included with Epcot admission. For additional information about the festival, visit
disneyworld.com/flower.
Fun Facts Bloom Across 305 Acres of 18th
Annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
Thirty million blooms, half a million plants, dozens of Disney character topiaries and 1,000 butterflies add up to a wonderful world of theme park color at the 18th annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, March 2-May 15 at Walt Disney World Resort. Among this year's fun festival facts:
30 million blooms blanket the park throughout the festival, which runs 75 colorful days.
Dozens of Disney character topiaries represent the largest collection of Disney character topiary in the world and include classic film stars like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Cinderella and Tinker Bell.
1,000 native butterflies represent up to 10 species at the larger-than-ever Bambi Butterfly House. Among the garden's two dozen nectar plants are Cape Royal plumbago, passion flower, coral honeysuckle, blazing star, butterfly bush, scarlet milkweed and canna lily.
More than 500,000 plants, trees and shrubs are planted for the festival; 250,000 of those are annual blossoms installed for the festival.
Festival plants include 60 different species of trees, 47 types of palms, and 48 varieties of bedding plants.
At least 25 different plants, grasses and mosses of various colors, including pink and red begonias, dusty miller, palm fiber, palm seeds, ficus and lichen, are used to create and define features of the festival topiaries. More color has been added to the topiaries than in any previous topiary presentation.
More than 15 floral, herbal and spice ingredients of 8 popular perfumes are revealed in the Fragrance Garden presented by Guerlain at the France pavilion. Guests can sniff the enduring fragrance Shalimar to discover botanical notes that include lemon, Arabian jasmine and vanilla. Some components of the other Guerlain fragrances include mimosa, magnolia, rose, nutmeg and vetivergrass.
198 hands-on gardening demonstrations and seminars will be presented.
Thirty "flower towers" of impatiens line Innoventions Plaza.
240 floating mini-gardens, each three feet in diameter, of multi-hued impatiens provide splashes of color on two ponds that border the walkway between Future World and World Showcase.
700 container gardens of flowers, herbs, plants and vegetables in clay pots, barrels and urns enhance the landscape throughout Epcot.
400 Walt Disney World horticulturists are needed to install the festival landscape, topiaries and many exhibits; 100 Epcot horticulturists maintain topiaries and other festival displays.
It takes more than one full year and about 24,000 cast member hours to prepare for the annual festival.
The festival's weekend Flower Power concert series includes 11 artists and groups with 133 Top 40 hits, including 16 No. 1 songs. This year's musical hit-makers from the 1960s and '70s include Jose Feliciano, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Melissa Manchester, Starship featuring Mickey Thomas, Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone, Ricky Nelson Remembered Featuring the Nelsons, Davy Jones, Juice Newton, The Guess Who, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr. and Chubby Checker & The Wildcats.
Guest information for the 18th annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is available at
disneyworld.com/flower or at 407/W-DISNEY.
GREEN
WITH IVY: Woody from the Disney Pixar “Toy Story” movies
is readied backstage for
his March 2 debut in topiary form at the 18th annual Epcot
International Flower & Garden Festival
presented by HGTV. Guests will see Woody in front of Spaceship
Earth at the front entrance garden.
(Press
release and images above Copyright Disney)
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