If you have ever had the chance to visit a Disney-owned resort, odds are that you have been blown away by the beauty and attention to detail in the landscaping. You may despair at the thought of ever replicating the simply stunning greenery, but the truth is, you don’t need a team of professional landscapers to make your yard have a bit of that Disney magic. A few small tweaks to your gardening routine could lead you to have the kind of yard that makes your neighbors say, “Wow!” no matter what age they are.
It’s true that if you want to have Donald Duck-shaped topiaries, those might require some additional work, and some aspects of Disney’s realistic landscapes, such as live exotic animals, may be a little unrealistic for the average gardener. But some Disney tips and tricks are easy for anyone to implement and accessible, no matter your gardening skill level.
Think vertically
In an interview with IFASC District, Lloyd Singleton, former landscape manager at Universal Studios, explains that many people think of trees in the wrong way. A common metric for understanding the financial investment in your garden is cost per square foot. However, square feet are a flat measurement that doesn’t take into account the aesthetic appeal of vertical elements of your garden, such as trees. A tree may take up the same amount of space as a square of sod and cost significantly more, but the overall value of the tree is likely greater than the sod, as it will provide visual variation to your garden space, not to mention shade for other plants.
Some gardeners may be hesitant to put young trees into their outdoor space because the trees may require additional support, which often comes in the form of unsightly stakes. But one more aesthetically appealing option for supporting your trees, according to Singleton, is to stake the root ball instead. With this method, your tree’s support system is entirely underground, and it can work just as well as a traditional staking system.
Pay attention to the little details
Some Disney landscapes aren’t particularly extravagant — but they are always meticulously intentional. Replicating this kind of intentionality in your own garden doesn’t mean you have to spend your entire life doing yard work. As Singleton explains, sometimes all it takes is some advanced planning. Keeping a garden notebook where you keep track of what plants bloom and when can help inform your strategy for your future garden. Rotating out annual plants so that some section of your yard is always blooming can appear more cohesive (and take a lot less work) than ripping out your entire flower bed every few months.
Other small details that can make a difference in your outdoor space include avoiding square corners. Square corners do not typically occur in nature, so having sharp right angles that separate one section of your yard from another can seem visually jarring. Taking the time to double-check certain elements of your garden — such as using a leveler to ensure that a bench is lying flat — can make your yard resemble the happiest place on earth without a lot of time and effort.
