'Garden Police' chief lays down the law

Dewayne Bevil | Theme Park Ranger

April 4, 2008

Shirley Bovshow went from real-estate professional to stay-at-home mom/avid gardener to landscape designer to TV personality. She eventually landed her own show, Garden Police, on Discovery Home Channel. "I'm kind of like Rachael Ray with dirty hands," Bovshow says. Her last trip to Disney World was in December for a family reunion. This weekend, she'll speak during the Great American Gardeners series in Garden Town at noon and 3 p.m. today, Saturday and Sunday.

What was your impression of the Disney landscaping?

I was in awe of the inspiration that the Imagineers must have in order to make their crazy ideas into realities. As I was looking at the fountains dancing at night, every one of those fountains to me represented a designer and the designer's idea. Because I'm a designer, I was trying to get my head around what made them think of this.

Did you see anything that could translate into a do-at-home project?

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I thought a lot of it was very doable, including topiaries, which is what usually scares people, but it's not a big deal.

It's not a big deal?

No, you buy a form online, then you start planting something and training it weekly. It gives you something to do. It's a little diversion. Once a week, go out and tie a little strand up. . . . Also the great maintenance [at Disney], the way the grounds were maintained. They were all mulched. I loved that, and that's a small thing that people can do in their gardens. If they just put a layer of 1 or 2 inches of mulch, their yard automatically looks more dressed up. Nobody wants to look at your dirt. Cover it!

What's your philosophy about kids and gardening?

I think kids need to be started very young, being outside. So if Mom and Dad like to toil in the garden, it would be nice to have the kids out on a blanket or something. Because the more you expose them to outdoors from early on, it's a natural thing for them to do.

What will you speak about at Epcot?

Art in the garden should be functional. If you've got to create a fence or a walkway or you need shade or privacy, take a creative approach toward making that so it's not your typical redwood fence. Boring! You need a fence, do something creative with it. That way you infuse your art in every element of your landscape.

Any tips on Florida landscaping?

Because I don't garden in Florida, my best advice would be something that I myself benefited from when I was the garden expert on iVillage: Make very good friends with your local nurserymen because they're not going to sell anything that's not going to do well in the area. That's really the thing to beware is when you order mail-order plants that may not be adapted to the Florida landscape. You might have to make things that you order into houseplants or something.