Amongst Flowers and Clouds

After seeing the Gardens from above and at night,  I managed to pay a longer visit to the Gardens by the Bay, one of Singapore's latest attractions - and an attempt to bring to Singapore the flora of the tropical highlands and of the cool and dry deserts and of the Mediterranean.

Baobab Forest

The Gardens are indeed a special place, with the towering supertrees and the cooled conservatories - ie the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest - helping it win the World Building of the Year award.  I spent a happy few hours walking through them, admiring and photographing the plantlife within.

Roses in Bloom

I started with the Flower Dome, walking through the succulents and the baobab forest..  It is truly an accomplishment to bring these exotic plants here - with their bloated trunks and tiny leaves, the baobab is well suited towards life in a dry climate where every drop is precious.

But I particularly loved the Mediterranean garden, where soft-petalled roses and other flowering blooms transported me to a happy day  spent in a garden of a stately home by Lake Maggiore in the Italian lakes.  The ancient olive trees in one corner, sheltering the bright flowers blooming at its base reminded me of my visit to Assisi, where the olive trees grew in the grounds of our hotel..

Mountain Magic

I then explored the Cloud Forest - which was truly a happy partnership between engineering and botany.  The lofty man-made mountain dominated the dome, with its waterfall cascading down one side.  Indeed, it reminded me of my visit to Doi Inthanon, near Chiang Mai not so long ago except that the winding mountain trails here were metal bridges extending out of the sides of the "mountain", enabling even the wheelchair-bound to experience life amongst the clouds. The sides of the mountain are covered with plants, with orchids and other flowers of the tropic highlands.  The mountain also has caves to be explored (full of crystals) and a visit to the secret caverns at the base also reveal what life would be like should temperatures rise by 5 degrees - a chilling warning of the dangers of climate change.

Leafy Blossoms

Leaving the mountain, the visitor then discovers a  secret valley at its foot.  A "river" flows slowly by, and "crocodiles" and giant snails peek through the flowers and plant life.  I see a lot of my mother's favourites, the epiceas, with their multi-coloured leaves.  One patch of leaves - purply green, bright green, red/yellow and green/pink/silver -was just as brightly coloured as any flower bush in the Flower Dome!

I've been indeed fortunate to visit the natural habitat of some of these beautiful plants.  And doubly fortunate that I get to experience them again here.  Indeed, the Gardens by the Bay has truly given Singaporeans the opportunity to learn  more about the glories of nature and the beauty and variety of plant life on this little planet called Earth.

For more photos (including my night shots) of the Gardens, check out my Flickr set.

Bragging Rights

Bragging opportunities don't come frequently to me so when they do I must make the most of it.

I mentioned in a previous post that Silver Kris had picked up one of my photos from my Flickr site for its use. Well here is the Apr 09 issue featuring my photo (big big some more):

The article features the favourite flower gardens of top celebrity florists.

One florist, New York-based Preston Bailey, mentioned of course the famous Marche aux Fleurs et aux Oiseaux, Paris.

I'm feeling good!

Inspiring

It's been a while since I've worked on a poetry exercise. It's been a busy few weeks and let's admit it here, the exercises are getting tougher.

My mother suggested that I write something inspiring. Inspiring! My little talent does not aspire to such heights. When I read these lines from Blake, I know nothing I can do can compare:

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

- William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

Not exactly a wild flower (this plant is in my back yard) but the promise of the bud about to bloom seems to capture the meaning of these lines for me - the glory of creation, the miracle of life and the potential in every living thing.

Time to Smell the Orchids

Yesterday, I took my dear mother to the Singapore Garden Festival. And my, I have never seen so many aunties and uncles toting their cameras and happily taking photos of plants. (I also spotted my own dear auntie amongst the crowds). It was not just a garden festival but a sort of mega get-together of the plant- and gardening community.

I must admit that as a non-gardener (and owner of a new camera) my main interest was in taking photos, but even I got caught up in the arresting fantasy gardens, the appealing and inviting landscape gardens and the multitude of orchids of every shape, variety and hue, which were on display. My mother's favourite was the Chelsea Pensioner's Garden, which is a tropical version of a prize-winning garden exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show. What makes this garden so exciting and interesting is the great variety of plants on offer - and how they have been able to introduce local plants and herbs, and even vegetables! I personally think that instead of a Chelsea Pensioner they could have made it a "Kampong Headman's Garden", to bring it closer to Asia. But, the crowd loved the two old soldiers in their bright red coats (my mother took her picture with one) and this was one of the most popular gardens in the whole festival. Another memorable garden aimed to present an "abstract expression" of Singapore. This was essentially a series of rectangles filled with neat rows of cacti with different coloured flowers on top. Whilst I am sure it must have been a challenge to find so many cacti flowering at the same time, it was the tongue-in-cheek nature of the display which amused me.

It was also pretty exciting to go around the orchid displays as this allowed me to get closer to the plants to practice macro shots. But with so many people with the same idea (those who did not bring their cameras with them were using their camera phones) there was not much time to linger over composing and focusing each shot. I must admit that I have never seen or even conceived that there could be such a variety of orchids - big, small, with large petals and with twistie-like petals, and of many different colours. I suppose this is the result of all the hybridisation which goes on. I also saw Annika Sorenson's orchid - she was apparently present on the opening day of the festival and was presented with her own special orchid. Well, we have certainly named orchids after stranger people

It was perhaps in the retail section that the avid gardeners find occasion to "express" themselves. There was everything that any gardener could want. My mother found her Neem tree products (apparently the Neem is an Indian wonder-tree which fertilises and repels pests all at the same time) and started signing up with various groups (like the Green Guides at the Singapore Environment Council booth).

So it looks like Singapore is going the right route in promoting ourselves as the City in a Garden (or whatever the NParks slogan is). Perhaps a little more inclusiveness in getting Singaporeans into the process would help? I remember that "neighbourhood" gardens in the US had come about when individuals started converting the eyesors at the corners of their streets into miniature gardens. Judging from the crowds at the festival, perhaps there are sufficient Singaporeans who would be happy to help beautify the areas around them (particularly, say, if the cost of materials etc was not borne by them but by their town council? Which then does not need to pay for landscaping and gardening services). Hmmm