Walt Disney's aspirations for his Florida property were utopian. So are those of his successors. As Katy Moss Warner, the general manager of Walt Disney World Parks Horticulture, puts it, "We have extracted what people consider to be wonderful experiences and tried to put them all together. We want the gardens to be as wonderful as the most wonderful of garden experiences, if we can." That's no mean challenge. But Warner's energy is astonishing, her enthusiasm contagious. Her responsibilities are complex, requiring sensitivity to people as well as plants, and her background seems custom-designed. She grew up helping to care for a Fletcher Steele-designed garden, has a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Arizona, and attended the Longwood Program for Public Horticultural Administration. Disney landscaping has to be ornamental plus. It must screen out unenchanting necessities like transformers and delivery trucks, separate one view from the next, provide transition between views, and tell stories and set stages to transport guests into another time or place or culture.
[…]
