The early start is good news for garden fans  but  that means even bigger challenges for Disney gardening experts.

More than 200 members of the Disney gardening team  have been working full-time putting the finishing touches on the garden show, including working overnight, festival horticultural manager Eric Darden said.

Darden led a small group of local media on a cold and drizzly sneak peak of the show last weekend.
The cold winter has taken its toll at the theme park, he said. About 10 percent of the park's plants have had to be replaced because of temperatures that dropped below freezing several times this winter.

But Disney guests won't see any sign of that. The Disney park is awash in the colors of spring. And there also are more of the popular topiary displays than ever before.
Park guests may have to endure temperatures a bit colder than usual because of the early start, but the payoff will be worth it, he said.

If you have been to the festival before,  you know what Florida's hot temperatures can do to a pretty garden setting. By the time May has  arrived,  even flowers and park guests are looking for cover after a few hours in the sun.
The early start means more vibrant blooms and a greater variety of flowers at the show, Darden said.

 “The advantage of starting earlier is that we’ll be able to feature more brilliant color than ever, with richly hued petunias, violas, snapdragons and other hardy flowers,” he said.
Even the cold weather has proven to be beneficial, Darden said.
“We lost some shrubs, but I think the park looks better because of the freeze,” said the Disney veteran of more than 20 years. The replacing of some shrubs gives Disney gardening experts a chance to reappraise areas and improving on them.

“Every year we are ready for a freeze,” Darden said, “and we were ready for this winter as well.”
But the hard freeze of several hours with a low of 24-degrees, the lowest he has ever experienced,  was challenging.
But the worst is behind the flower and garden show now.

“And I expect this year's show to be as fine as anything we have ever done,” he said.
As usual, the focal point of the show, despite all of those flowers — are the topiary displays.

“The topiaries were Walt's (Disney) idea,” Darden said. Disney first saw them at Tivoli Gardens in Europe and transplanted the idea to  Disneyland.

The original ones were actually sculpted bushes, and in time it changed to heavy metal frames with sphagnum moss applied. The frames were made lighter when portability became an issue, Darden said.

This year the park will have more than 100 different topiaries, representing 75 different characters.
One of this year's centerpieces is a topiary/floral design called the Great Outdoors. Located at the Epcot front entrance,  the elaborate topiary with a North American theme includes a live waterfall and pond with Goofy in a fly-fishing misadventure, Daisy Duck roasting marshmallows over a campfire and Pluto in his “pup tent.” Goofy is 14-feet tall, one of the largest Disney topiaries ever.

Other new additions to the 14th annual festival include:
New Community Garden – Disney’s “fab five” topiary pals – Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy – gather at American Adventure to tend tomatoes, beans, peppers, herbs and other edibles in their first Community Garden for a salute to the many community gardens being planted across the country.

Newly Expanded Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden – New  topiaries of Tinker Bell and friends from Walt Disney Pictures’ latest DVD release Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure.
Fawn’s Butterfly House at Pixie Hollow – Formerly known as Minnie’s Magnificent Butterfly House, the butterfly garden this year is part of the expanded Pixie Hollow and named after fairy Fawn from the popular Tinker Bell films. Hundreds of butterflies can be found amongst the  lush foliage, and guests can wander and watch as winged beauties of multiple species light on flowers filled with nectar and as caterpillars emerge from their chrysalis in a special discovery exhibit.

First-Ever American Gothic Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse – The Disney  version of   American Gothic with  Mickey and Minnie in a topiary scene based on the 1930 Grant Wood painting.

Other festival highlights include:
Flower Power concerts – Popular bands are back at the open-air America Gardens Theatre every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 5:15, 6:30 and 7:45 p.m. Jose Feliciano is scheduled to kick off the concert series this weekend. On subsequent weekends, the lineup is slated to feature pop favorites such as Davy Jones, Chubby Checker & The Wildcats, Tony Orlando, former Boston lead singer Fran Cosmo, and more.

Disney Gardening at Home presentations – Disney horticulturists will share gardening tips and lead guests in a hands-on, take-home activity.

The Great American Gardeners series – Gardening celebrities and authors from across the country will reveal their gardening secrets. Opening weekend, Robert Bowden, author and director of lush Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, kicks off the series.

The Garden Town Festival Center – Guests can shop for festival merchandise, attend speaker presentations and demonstrations and ask gardening questions of the experts.
Special Festival Celebrations – An Art in the Garden celebration of plein air artists is scheduled March 26-28; a Florida Farmer’s Market celebration is April 23-25, and the popular I Dig Bugs event is set for April 30-May 2.

For more information about the festival call   407-W-DISNEY (934-7639) or by visit disneyworld.com/flower. The festival, including all gardening programs and exhibits, is included in regular Epcot admission.