Each spring, Syngenta Flowers, horticulturalist, Faith Savage and Eric Darden, Disney Horticulture Manager for the Epcot® International Flower& Garden Festival bring the most vibrant and colorful ornamental plant varieties to the Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival. Together they ensure that guests see decorative, artistic plantings and landscape designs throughout the theme park.
Faith and Eric encourage you to have your audience submit questions to your website or an email address and ask their questions on the air during your interview with Faith and Eric, or just bring your own questions.
Faith and Eric can discuss home gardening questions as well as questions about the Festival.
1. How long does it take to get the Festival ready each year?
2. How do you know what kind of flowers to breed together to make a new plant?
3. What do you find is the most common mistake home gardeners make when it comes to flowers?
4. What should home gardeners be planting and when this season
This year’s Festival features 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. The festival runs, March 2-May 15, 2011. Information on theEpcot® International Flower & Garden Festival is available at disneyworld.com/flower
Faith Savage educates people around the world about Syngenta Flowers with her knowledge of plant science and her skills as an artist. Syngenta has provided 1.3 million flowers to Epcot’s Festival over the past 18 years. Savage and Syngenta share the purpose of bringing plant potential to life. She knows plant science and, with the skill of an artist, she creates works of beautiful art from living materials. Syngenta provided 3 varieties of flowers to this year’s festival from Kwik Kombo Sanguna Moody Blues to Super Sonic Impatiens Red.
Eric Darden joined Disney’s Horticulture in 1988 working as a gardener at the Walt Disney World Nursery. During the next 12 years at Disney, he held many roles at the Nursery including Manager of the facility from 1997-2001. Eric was a member of team that brought the first Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival to life and has been involved with the Festival since that time. In 2003 he was named Horticulture Manager of the Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival, helping to insure that each year the show grows in its creativity and appeal to park guests. In addition to leading the horticulture efforts for the Festival, Eric also co manages the Walt Disney World® Nursery.
