Bellagio conservatory celebrates Chinese New Year
Technically, Chinese New Year doesn’t begin until early February — but at Bellagio’s beloved conservatory, the celebration’s already in full swing.
Commemorating the Year of the Yang — which simultaneously honors the Goat, Sheep and Ram — the display features 22,000 flowers in vibrant reds and golds, focusing on the symbol of the Goat.
A family of five animated goats stands atop the conservatory’s centerpiece, a 14-foot grassy mountain, turning their heads to observe the gardens below.
What they (and visitors) see includes an array of Asian vignettes, accented by an assortment of silk-lantern chandeliers, that incorporate elements of Chinese design.
Among the displays: a mountainside home with jade doorknobs, built into a mountainside, where water cascades into a pond surrounded by citrus trees, bromeliads and cyclamen.
Bringing luck to conservatory visitors, the West Garden’s front fence is lined with I-Ching coins, while in the East Garden, a 12-foot lantern sits atop a pond holding 21,000 gallons of water, live koi fish and four bonsai trees perched atop pedestals. Additional illuminated lanterns at the garden’s corners cast a soft red glow on chrysanthemums and red bromeliads below.
Beneath a moongate wall in the South Garden, three Chinese children — their clothing adorned with 5,000 hand-cut flowers — dance around a pond surrounded by bamboo and lantern-bedecked trees. A Chinese pavilion serves as the focal point of the North Bed; it’s connected by a brick bridge to a lush garden of overflowing bromeliads, red cyclamen and chrysanthemums.
Adding a musical touch to the Year of the Yang celebration, the Las Vegas-based Beijing Trio performs traditional folk and pop music with authentic Chinese instruments from 4:30 to 6 p.m. daily.
The Conservatory and Botanical Gardens’ Chinese New Year exhibit is complimentary and open to the public seven days a week, 24 hours a day, at Bellagio, 3600 Las Vegas Blvd. South. For more information, call 702-693-7111.
