About a third of the 150 attendees of PLANET’s Green Industry Great Escape, held Feb. 20-23 in Las Vegas, signed up to tour the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, which highlighted the year of the snake during its annual Chinese New Year exhibit. The beautiful public space located in the Bellagio Las Vegas casino and hotel features five different exhibits per year: Chinese New Year, spring, summer, fall and holiday. (Watch a time-lapse video of the exhibit change-outs.)
Because the garden is indoors in a sensitive hotel environment, its staff treats plants only with biological controls and minimal fertilizer, according to Patricia Streeter, manager of interior horticulture for the Bellagio. Most of the flowers are potted and sit on top of rubber mulch, chosen because it can be cleaned and reused. The beds drain into the garden’s basement, which features a sloped floor leading to gutters connected to storm drains. Most plants are hand watered daily by the Bellagio’s horticultural staff, about 115 members strong. Reuse and recycling is a theme at the Conservatory, Streeter says, noting that when an exhibit is taken down its plants are available for sale to Bellagio’s 8,500 employees. The proceeds support a fund established to help employees with hardships.
Bellagio’s Exterior Irrigation Manager Kent Gibson also spoke with tour attendees, sharing the property’s efforts to manage aphids with beneficial wasps the described as the “size of fungus gnats.” He prefers these to lady bugs, which he says often flee to neighboring properties rather than staying on site. Wasps don’t travel as far for food.
