Bellagio's Conservatory and Botanical Gardens combines the nostalgia of yesteryear with the wonders of modern technology to create a multitude of picture-perfect moments this holiday season. A colorful cranberry bog calls to mind the vision of a plentiful holiday table while the playful antics of festive artic animals capture the hearts of visitors. In the center, a holiday tree is laden with sparkling ornaments while joyful sounds of the season evoke fond memories of home.
As guests enter, they see an illuminated cranberry bog with four gold-leafed rose topiaries, overflowing with approximately a thousand fresh roses and rising from the sea of brilliant red berries. The bog celebrates the time-honored tradition of the cranberry harvest and pays homage to an American holiday favorite. Ocean Spray provided more than four hundred thousand individual cranberries, weighing approximately two thousand pounds, to create this vivid new addition to the Conservatory's annual holiday exhibit. Cranberries grow on vines in low-lying, marsh-like environments called bogs. Small air pockets inside the cranberries cause the fruit to float in water, which is how many cranberries are harvested, creating a stunning scene in nature.
Another new delight this year is a colony of endearing penguins. The group of twenty portly marine birds can be spotted within an artic scene. Animatronic technology brings five adult and two baby penguins to life.
A baby polar bear frolics playfully on his back on a frozen stream as mama and papa bear watch with affection. The topiary bears' fur, made of twenty-five thousand white carnations, was carefully hand-applied by horticulturists and is kept fresh by a specially designed water drip system.
The dazzling centerpiece of this beautiful exhibit is a towering forty-five-foot Shasta Fir tree bejeweled with red, pink and silver ornaments, a golden star tree topper and dozens of flickering candles. Powered by electricity, the candles retain an old-fashioned look and feel of an era when fire illuminated the night. Six to eighteen-foot ornaments hang from above and circle the tree to create a stunning visual. The tree's dramatic touch is created with thousands of white lights choreographed to music and the dancing waters below.