Lights enhance nature at Bellevue Botanical Garden

By Tina Potterf
Seattle Times staff reporter

	BILL WILLARD Last year, 40,000 people took the self-guided tour of the Bellevue Botanical Garden's Garden d'Lights light display. The tour takes about 30 minutes.
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Garden d'Lights, that is.

Bellevue Botanical Garden is home to Garden d'Lights, featuring light displays of the garden variety — from foliage to festive flowers — all in a serene setting. The annual light show runs daily through Dec. 31.

This is the 10th season of Garden d'Lights, created by the Bellevue Botanical Garden Society as a way to get people into the garden this time of the year. The all-volunteer group dedicates hundreds of hours to the displays, which depict native plants, flowers and creatures — including those particularly pesky ones pervasive in the Northwest.

Event preview Garden d'Lights, a garden-themed light display, 5-9:30 p.m. daily (including Christmas Eve and Christmas day) through Dec. 31, Bellevue Botanical Garden, 12001 Main St., Bellevue; free, suggested donation of $1 per person or $3 per family (425-451-3755 or www.bellevuebotanical.org).

"The theme is 'garden,' so it's plants and critters that we can grow in the Northwest garden, like slugs," said Udell Fresk, chairwoman of the Garden d'Lights committee. "We try to add new features each year."

Garden d'Lights is a feast for the eyes that has caught on wildly since its inception.

Last year, 40,000 people took the self-guided tour of the botanical garden, and organizers expect just as many this season. The tour takes, on average, about 30 minutes, with the lights serving as markers. This is not, however, a run-of-the-mill light show — creativity and many hours are poured into each display to create a lasting impression.

"The lights are three-dimensional, not just an outline," said Kathleen Petty, of the Garden Society. "There are so many lights, and they are so beautiful. We have blue, purple, pinks, yellows and of course, greens."

Although the display is up for a little more than a month, it takes about 200 volunteers and months of planning and preparation. Between 300,000 and 400,000 individual lights were used, and new elements are added each year to keep the experience fresh for return visitors.

In keeping with the holiday season, Garden d'Lights offers a little festive color.

Amid the chrysanthemums and Canadian geese, spiders and trees, is a 6-foot tall poinsettia made from more than 15,000 lights.

Garden d'Lights appeals to people of all ages and interests, from garden enthusiasts to those who just enjoy a good light show.

"My favorite (response) is the person who said, 'My 3-year-old toddler and my 83-year-old grandmother both loved it,' " Fresk said. "It's a family attraction."

Tina Potterf: 206-464-8214 or tpotterf@seattletimes.com

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