Bill Evans and his brother Jack had designed some rather interesting gardens in the course of their respective horticulturist careers. As coowners of the Evans and Reeves Nurseries, they had gained the reputation of being landscape architects with a flair for the exotic, which made them extremely popular with the Hollywood set of 1952. But nothing could prepare them for what Walt Disney had in mind.
"It all started with us doing Walt's backyard – a miniature scale railroad," says Bill Evans, who is still a landscape consultant for Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and Walt Disney World. "Tunnels, trestles, berms, embankments – there was even a miniature hydraulic lift for engine repairs in the little roundhouse. We found out right away that Walt was a man who really plunged headfirst into everything he did, whatever it was."
Two years later, Walt asked the Evans brothers to provide the landscaping for his newest project, a themed park where visitors would experience everything from a steamy African jungle to an arid desert. It was a challenge that Bill and Jack eagerly accepted with great excitement.
"Walt was intensely interested in everything he did, and especially at Disneyland. At the Park, we used to have a live show with Indian rain dances from all over the Southwest. Walt researched rain dances until he knew all about them. He had a photographic memory. So you had to be right about whatever you were doing because he called you on it, like that," says Evans, snapping his fingers, "if you weren't."
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