Order of Wings: Bellagio ushers in spring with butterfly exhibit

Thursday, March 27, 2003 | 8:15 a.m.

No union contract. No poolside accommodations. No G-strings. No tuxedos. The buffet is entirely off-limits.

Could this be why the new stars at Bellagio refuse to entertain guests during prime hours or give interviews? Perhaps they're just recklessly indifferent. Time is not on their side. The lucky ones could last 10 days. Replacements arrive weekly.

"They have a weeklong life span," said Audra Danzak, the hotel's director of horticulture, referring to the 250 live butterflies released last week in the conservatory as part of its spring exhibit.

On display through May 31, the butterflies will live out their days in a netted replica of France's Temple of Love at Versailles and dine on ample supplies of fresh fruit and orange Gatorade.

Their arrival required approval from the state entomologist, a specially trained staff to handle them and a double-door vestibule system in which to reach them.

But then, that's show business in Las Vegas.

"We have to have it," Danzak said, standing next to the centerpiece, where the butterflies are now flitting about. "We're either going to do it all the way or not do it at all."

For Danzak, the phrase "all the way" seems to grow bigger with each conservatory display.

After creating a year-end holiday display that brought in a 32-foot Christmas tree and 18-foot ornaments, she orchestrated a Chinese New Year exhibit complete with an 18-foot statue of the God of Wealth and Fortune and smaller playful statues dressed in flowers.

The spring exhibit lures onlookers who line the center pond, nearly giddy because of the perfectly tubular shafts of water hopping from one side of the pond to the other.

If that isn't enough eye candy, there are 10,000 flowering plants, 15-foot mechanical butterflies made of organic material (such as rice, seeds and beans), giant mushrooms, an assortment of blooming cherry blossom trees and towering flower arrangements sprouting from 11-foot urns.

A water fountain left behind from the Chinese New Year display trickles into a reflecting pool next to a weeping willow tree. Ficus trees were brought in from Florida, and roughly 5,000 12-inch and 18-inch nylon butterflies are strung together above the display.

What made this exhibit particularly challenging, Danzak said, was the recreation of the gradual metamorphosis known as spring.

Spring is piecemeal. Some trees blossom suddenly while others are sticklike for weeks. Flowers bloom and cave independently of their neighbors.

Keeping up appearances, Danzak said, "It's timing. We try to get everything in a dormant stage, so it just pops out.

"You got to have the grower, very specifically, keep them frozen."

The week prior to opening, cranes with padded wheels, ladders and canopied shelves blocked the aisles. Empty pots of soil filled the area where a pond once was. Staff members were unloading canopied shelves of ferns, ivies, hyacinths and chrysanthemums (which normally bloom in the fall) while tourists snapped photos and watched the behind-the-scenes mechanics.

Small purple mechanical butterflies, which have been attached to trees throughout the conservatory, simulate live movement while the real butterflies are inactive.

"Butterflies roost and because they rest during prime hours we created movement for guests coming through," Danzak said. "But we try to go all natural as much as possible."

The live butterflies were farm-raised and were shipped from Florida and Costa Rica. All are North American species and some are rare.

The temple where they live was created with the help of the Dallas-based Design Solutions. WET Design in Universal City, Calif., created the center-aisle water show, which at night turns magenta. (WET Design also created the outdoor water show in front of the hotel.)

While most of the plants require being changed out each week, the butterflies, which also have a weeklong life span and need to be changed out, are much more demanding.

U.S. Department of Agriculture requires a double-door vestibule system to keep the butterflies contained.

The three or four trained staff members handling the butterflies wear white, full-length lab coats and examine themselves in a mirror after departing the butterfly area to ensure there are no "hitchhikers" clinging to their coats.

"It's all containment," Danzak said. "Not to humans, but to other plants and butterflies in Las Vegas."

Inside the netted temple, special lighting was created and plant material the butterflies can nectar on was provided. A mister and humidifier protects them from the desert dryness.

The butterflies' biggest threat, however, is an unlikely one: Birds that have long ago broken into the conservatory and live in its trees.

Adding with a smile, Danzak said, "We think they may try to get the butterflies."