First comes Winter, then comes Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival!

Spring is almost here! Want to know how I know? Because starting a week from today, Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival will be kicking off it's annual run.

From March 3, until May 16th, Epcot will be filled with beautiful flowers and topiaries and other activities revolving around having a green thumb.

My favorite activity for this time of year involve all the amazing topiaries that are produced. The one in Epcot's main entryway should be outstanding, as Donald, Goofy, Daisy, and Pluto will have set up camp, celebrating the great outdoors and will include a North American theme.

As mentioned before, some of the new events for this year include, a community garden where the Fab 5 will gather in topiary form at the American Adventure, tending to a vegetable patch, as a salute to the many community gardens throughout the country; a further expanded Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden area, with Fawn's Butterfly House (formerly known as Minnie's Butterfly House); and finally a topiary version of Minnie and Mickey in American Gothic form at the World Showcase Plaza.

Also new this year, is something that's recently been announced. In Garden Town, you can enjoy a breakfast prepared with fresh ingredients from the Land Pavilion and learn garden and culinary tips while dining. The cost will be $60 per person plus tax and will take place March 21st, April 18th, and May 16th from 10:30 am - 12:30 pm. Reservations will more than likely be necessary.

Returning favorites include the Flower Power Concerts, which will take place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights at 5:15, 6:30, and 7:45 pm.; Disney Gardening at Home Programs where Disney horticulturalists will teach guests in a take-home project; The Great American Gardeners Series where gardening celebrities will give some of their secrets; and the Garden Town Festival Center with festival merchandise and speaker presentations.

For anyone who will be attending the Festival this year, you can get a sneak peak of the park map here.

For anyone who wants more information about all the great Springtime festivities, visit Disney's website at disneyworld.com/flower.

Finally, some facts, straight from Disney about the Flower and Garden Festival:

-30 million blooms blanket the park throughout the festival, which runs 75 colorful days.

-More than 100 topiaries displayed throughout the park add up to 60 tons of plant materials.

-More than 70 Disney character topiaries represent the largest collection of Disney character topiary in the world and include classic film stars like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Cinderella and Tinker Bell.

-At 14 feet tall, Goofy is the tallest character topiary ever created.

-600 native butterflies, more than ever before, represent up to 10 species at Fawn’s Butterfly House, a gazebo-type screened enclosure filled with lush plants where guests can view the colorful butterflies. Among the garden’s two dozen nectar plants are Cape Royal plumbago, passion flower, coral honeysuckle, blazing star, butterfly bush, scarlet milkweed and canna lily.

-More than 500,000 plants, trees and shrubs are planted for the festival; 250,000 of those are annual blossoms installed for the festival.

-Festival plants include 60 different species of trees, 47 types of palms, and 48 varieties of bedding plants.

-At least 25 different plants, grasses and mosses of various colors, including pink and red begonias, dusty miller, palm fiber, palm seeds, ficus and lichen, are used to create and define features of the festival topiaries. More color has been added to the topiaries than in any previous topiary presentation.

-More than 15 floral, herbal and spice ingredients of 10 popular perfumes are revealed in the Fragrance Garden presented by Guerlain at the France pavilion. Guests can sniff the enduring fragrance Shalimar to discover botanical notes that include lemon, Arabian jasmine and vanilla. Some components of nine other Guerlain fragrances include mimosa, magnolia, rose, nutmeg and vetivergrass.

-198 hands-on gardening demonstrations and seminars will be presented.

-Forty-four “flower towers” of impatiens line Innoventions Plaza.

-120 floating mini-gardens, each three feet in diameter, of multi-hued impatiens provide splashes of color on two ponds that border the walkway between Future World and World Showcase.

-700 container gardens of flowers, herbs, plants and vegetables in clay pots, barrels and urns enhance the landscape throughout Epcot.

-600 Walt Disney World horticulturists are needed to install the festival landscape, topiaries and many exhibits; 100 Epcot horticulturists maintain topiaries and other festival displays.

-It takes more than one full year and about 24,000 cast member hours to prepare for the annual festival.

-The festival’s weekend Flower Power concert series includes 11 artists and groups with 126 Top 40 hits, including 16 No. 1 songs. This year’s musical hit-makers from the 1960s and '70s include Jose Feliciano, Paul Revere & The Raiders, David Cassidy, Starship featuring Mickey Thomas, Tony Orlando, Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone, Ricky Nelson Remembered Featuring the Nelsons, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Fran Cosmo, Davy Jones, and Chubby Checker & The Wildcats.