Bellagio conservatory’s display honors spring

Spring doesn’t officially arrive until Saturday, but those eager for the new season can get an early glimpse inside the Bellagio’s conservatory and botanical gardens.

The Strip property’s conservatory has opened its latest botanical display, “Springtime Celebrations Around the World.” The floral creation uses more than 30,000 flowers and plants to represent springtime celebrations in The Netherlands, England, Thailand and the United States.

“As we leave the dreary winter months behind, we spring forward with our beautiful new Conservatory exhibit, celebrating renewal and growth,” designer Ed Libby said in a Monday news release. “Guests will be compelled at every turn by numerous blooming floral displays that reflect how the world celebrates spring.”

The display is in part a tribute to

England’s annual Chelsea Flower Show. The scene features roses, daffodils and clovers — the United Kingdom’s national flowers — as well as a greenhouse filled with more than 100 live domestic butterflies. Boat floats in this portion of the conservatory symbolize a new voyage into spring.

The south bed honors the Keukenhof festival in Holland. A large, mobile windmill that symbolizes “strength and promising future” is the centerpiece of that section.

The area is also filled with tulips, daffodils and hyacinths, as well as a pair of hand-painted wooden clogs branded with the Bellagio “B.”

In the United States portion of the display are 12 cherry blossom trees meant to represent the cherry blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. There is also a walkway surrounded by blooming roses, the nation’s flower, and a structure reminiscent of the district’s historical architecture. An American flag made of red, white and blue flowers and white butterflies flies about the scene.

Traveling to the north bed, visitors will find a scene honoring Thailand’s Songkran water festival, a celebration where people splash water on each other to purify themselves for the beginning of the Buddhist New Year. The display includes Thai umbrellas, a temple that houses a Buddha statue, a water fountain surrounded by hand-blown glass flowers and a golden elephant.

The display is open 24 hours a day and will be available to view through May22.

Bizuayehu Tesfaye Las Vegas Review-journal A giant hummingbird is displayed at thechelseagardenatthebellagio Conservatory, honoring the springtime Chelsea Flower Show in England.

Bizuayehu Tesfaye Las Vegas Review-journal @bizutesfaye Elena Maican and her fiancé, Paul Soto, of Washington, D.C., visit the Washington, D.C., Cherry Blossom Festival display Monday at the Bellagio Conservatory.