Babylon in 2,800 B.C. was famed in Asia for its wealth, magnificence, and, unfortunately, self-indulgence. Nevertheless, in the midst of decadence, a rare art had its origin and flourished: the art of fashioning living plants in to the shapes of animals or geometric figures.
Topiary gardening, the art of sculpturing in living plants, continued to thrive long after the Babylonian Empire subsided into history. Practiced in Egypt and throughout the Roman Empire, topiary reached its height of popularity during the late Renaissance. Beautifully sculptured trees and shrubs were quite common in the gardens of European nobility, particularly in England. And although many notable examples of this extremely specialized form of gardening still can be seen in Europe today, it is rarely found in the United States.
Bill Evans, a third-generation horticulturist and Walt Disney World's resident landscape architect, recalls the beginning of Walt Disney's interest in this unique form of ornamental gardening:
"Walt Disney had seen some of Europe's remaining topiary gardens, and he wanted to create a fanciful menagerie of well-known Disney character animals — hippos, elephants, and crocodiles from 'Fantasia,' for example — in a garden-like setting at Disneyland.
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