7 Plants for Your Garden Inspired by Disney’s New Avatar Park
The highly-anticipated Pandora: World of Avatar opens officially to the public on May 27 at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom Park. While most will beeline it to the two new rides, the photos we’ve seen of the incredible landscape make the argument to slow down the pace (just a little bit —wouldn’t want to lose your spot in an up-to-six-hour line).
The main element of the landscape are those amazing “floating” mountains, but it’s the ground-level features that got us thinking about pushing boundaries in the garden.
Granted, a lot of the elements are indeed man-made by Imagineers. But there are also living plants that help further immerse you into the illusion that you’re in Pandora.
So, if we were to “Imagineer” an outdoor space with plants that look as if they could live on another planet? By choosing ones that, well, always kind of looked like they would belong on another planet.
Succulents are always a good place to start when it comes to unique landscape elements. This Senecio “Green Fingers” succulent from etsy seller CactusLimon has that intriguing spiny look.
Like succulents, Euphorbia ‘Blue Haze’ from High Country Gardens craves sun and loves poor soil conditions. The chartreuse flowers and blue foliage makes a powerful impression, too.
As much as unusual color stands out in the garden, so do plants in a dramatic shade of white. The White Feather Hosta from Breck’s shifts the focus on the intriguing shape of each leaf.
Speaking of form, the ball-shape heads of ‘Persian Blue Allium’ (also from Breck’s) make this a definite statement plant.
Protea (like ‘Red Baron,’ available in cut and plant form from Booth Farms) has always looked a bit out-there in the best way possible.
Another blue entry on our list, Cerinthe major purpurascens ‘Blue Honeywort’ (from Annie’s Annuals) is dazzling but pretty easy to grow.
Boston ferns aren’t so exotic, but they do make a landscape feel that much more lush. These are available via Etsy seller darrellreid.