Florida Guide > Epcot
Epcots World Showcase Gardens – part 1
Epcot’s World Showcase is made up of themed gardens throughout the eleven nations of the world, together with the many other beautiful areas to be viewed as you walk around the lake.
An incredible seven hundred specialists maintain these gardens from the magnificently coloured displays in Canada to the ponds with water lilies in front of China. As you stroll around you may notice that many of the flowers, trees and shrubs are labelled, this can very useful if you see a plant that you are especially fond of and would like to perhaps plant in your own garden back home.
MexicoOur journey begins with Mexico (we will be taking the clockwise route around World Showcase). Mexico is the most tropical section in Epcot with several varieties of palm trees and plants, which you would associate with the jungle. Although you cannot see them, there are hidden heating systems amongst the plants, which are turned on during the cooler months of winter. The heating systems protect the plants from the frost. Take a look near the steps on the left hand side of the temple. These trees are called Floss Silk Trees, which have beautiful blossoms in the spring and very strange shaped fruit during other seasons which hang from the bare branches. The Epcot gardeners like to keep Mexico as lifelike as possible and try to make it look slightly untidy but still with exotic planting like a real jungle.
NorwayAs you walk from Mexico to the next country, which is Norway, you will see a line of trees on your left. These are called camphor trees and are used by the gardeners to provide continuity around World Showcase and also because they soften the landscape and give shade to guests as they wander around. The trees are related to the cinnamon tree and as the name suggests they are used to produce camphor oil. Unfortunately, plants which are native to Norway, could not be used in the park as they would not be able to survive the Florida heat but the gardeners have replaced them with look-alikes such as maples and sycamores. Take a look at the roofs on the buildings; they are covered with grass, to depict the roofs of Norwegian houses located in the mountains. The grass is used to add insulation from the very cold weather in Norway. The Epcot gardeners had to use zoysia grass as this grass will stay green all year round.
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