The Singapore Garden Festival 2016

The sixth edition of the Singapore Garden Festival is back! Running from from 23 – 31 July 2016 at the Gardens by the Bay, this year’s event covering an area of some 9.7 hectares, is the largest ever. The highlight of the festival is probably at The Meadow. Here visitors will be treated to eye-catching creations by some of the world’s gardening greats including the nine Landscape Show Gardens, six Fantasy Show Gardens, fourteen Floral Windows to the World and five Balcony Gardens – all of which are crowd favourites.

My favourite landscape show garden – The Treasure Box by Inch Lim of Malaysia.

Modern Day Maui – a Fantasy Show Garden by Adam Shuter of New Zealand.

Another favourite will have to be the burst of colours in the Flower Dome provided by the Orchid Extravaganza. On display are a rich heritage of orchids that will provide an appreciation of what the world’s most diverse botanical family has to offer.

An award winning Rawdon Jester ‘Great Bee’ at the Orchid Extravaganza at the Flower Dome.

More unusual orchids.

A host of other displays and activities are also lined up for the festival including a Learning Garden, a Landscape Design Challenge featuring teams of students, the World Of Terrariums which sees more than 100 creative displays of terrariums put up by students, hobbyists and community gardeners. There is also a Vibrant Marketplace in the non-ticketed area to look out for. This sees over 100 booths offering both sustenance and items such as plants, gardening and landscape products and services, and arts and crafts.

A pineapple plant, one of the many useful plants – kitchen-wise at the Learning Garden.

The festival also features a photo and an Instagram contest.  The “Tropical Floral Wonderland” Photography Contest offers prizes such as a Nikon D750 kit set, Nikon D7200 (18 – 105mm) kit set and Nikon D5500 (18 – 55mm) kit set. To enter, photos should be submitted by email to sggardenfest@gmail.com by 1 August 2016. For mobile phone photographers, uploading a photo to Instagram with the hashtag #sggardenfest (post has to be set as public) or via the contest page on the SGF Facebook page during the Festival period, will qualify entrants for a chance to win Nikon COOLPIX S7000 cameras.

The festival runs until Sunday. More information, including ticketing can be found at the Singapore Garden Festival website.

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More photographs from the festival:

More Fantasy Gardens – Mystical Depths by Hugo Bugg of the UK.

A Garden in a Flower, a Fantasy Garden by Michael Petrie of the US.

Dare to Dream, a Fantasy Garden by John Tan and Raymond Toh of Singapore.

Another crowd favourite – Nature’s Resolution, a Fantasy Garden by Stefano Passerotti of Italy.

Power of the Earth, a Fantasy Garden by Katsuhiko Koga and Kazuhiro Kagae of Japan.

Another view of Modern Day Maui.

The Sugarcane Maze – a Landscape Garden by Kong Jian Yu of China.

Another view of the Sugarcane Maze – a Landscape Garden by Kong Jian Yu of China.

Back to Nature – a Landscape garden by a South African / New Zealand team.

Benny’s Sunflower Farm.

Gary’s Musical Flower Field.

Another view of Gary’s Musical Flower Field.

Winter Wonderland.

A Balcony Garden.

Galaxy Floristic – Floral Windows into the World.

Another Floral Windows into the World display.

A Celebration Floral Table.

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More photographs from the Orchid Extravaganza:

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The glow in the park

The Mid-Autumn festival is one which always provides a burst of colour to light the evening up. The glow from a burst of colour which is definitely worth being bathed in is the sea of lights found at one of Singapore’s latest and most popular attractions, the Gardens by the Bay which plays host to a magical display of light and colour in the form of hand-crafted lanterns from 13 to 22 September at Mid-Autumn Festival @ The Gardens 2013.

Being bathed by the glow in the park.

The display in the outdoor gardens and The Meadow is free and is arranged around several themes which include Jurassic Park, the World of Fairy Tales and zodiac signs. During Mid-Autumn Festival @ The Gardens 2013, which is organised by Chinese Newspapers Division of Singapore Press Holdings, People’s Association and Gardens by the Bay also sees various fringe activities such as stage performances, competitions and exhibitions.

There is food glorious food to also look out for at Asian Food Street at The Meadow with delicacies from China, Taiwan and Singapore on offer, including those brought in by the China Hainan Provincial Committee. The committee will be at the event to showcase the Hainan region’s specialties which also include dance and music performances and the sale of handicrafts. The performances can be caught from 6 to 11 pm on Monday to Friday; and 3 to 11 pm on Saturday and Sunday during the event period. There will also be fundraising activities held, the proceeds of which will go to President’s Challenge 2013. The fund raising activities include the release of water and sky lanterns and a one-day Family Fun Walk.

Release of water ‘Loi Krathong’ lanterns.

Another highlight to look forward to is the new Mid-Autumn themed floral display in the Flower Dome. This see three dragonfly lanterns perched over a field coloured by “lantern flowers” such as Begonias and autumn-blooms like Chrysanthemums, Astilbes and Celosias.

A dragonfly lantern in the Flower Field of the Flower Dome.

For Mid-Autumn Festival @ The Gardens 2013 there will be an extension of operating hours as well as a 15% discount on admission tickets to the conservatories. The discounts are applicable on the prevailing Standard and Local Resident admission rates only and applies only to tickets purchased at on-site Ticketing Counters. Discounts are limited to 4 tickets purchased during each transaction and does not include OCBC Skyway and Garden Cruiser. The extension of opening hours applies to the two conservatories and OCBC Skyway which will be opened from 9 am to 11 pm (last ticket sale 10 pm / last admission 10.30pm) from 13 to 22 September with the operating hours for selected F&B outlets in the Gardens also extended.

A Snap & Win! Instagram photo contest will be held in conjunction with the event with 3 winners walking away with Gardens by the Bay memorabilia gift packages worth $50. To participate, visitors can upload photos of the Mid-Autumn celebrations at Gardens by the Bay on their Instagram account with the hashtags #midautumnatgb and #gardensbythebay.

For me, one of the highlights is an installation put up by Keppel Club at the Supertree Grove – the 3D Pandora Exhibitions which requires 3D glasses to be worn. This is opened from 6 to 11 pm on Monday to Friday and 3 to 11 pm on Saturday and Sunday and involves props made out of recycled materials. More information on this and the whole big glow in the park can be found at the Gardens by the Bay’s website.

Look Ma, I have three toes!

Through the 3D Pandora Exhibition.

Tulip fever hits Singapore

On the evidence of the crowds that turned up for Tulipmaniaat the Flower Dome of the Gardens by the Bay on May Day, Singapore’s largest display of tulips which was in full bloom, is certainly a huge hit with Singaporeans. The three week long event which kicked off on Monday, sees some 40,000 tulip bulbs flown in from the Netherlands by official sponsors KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. More information is available on a previous post: Tiptoe through the tulips at the Flower Dome.

Photographs of Tulipmania taken on May Day:

Tiptoe through the tulips at the Flower Dome

While you can’t quite tiptoe through the tulips there is a good chance you can imagine yourself doing it right here in Singapore. For what could be the first time in Singapore at the Gardens by the Bay’s Flower Dome, a mini field of tulips will be in full bloom – from today, 29 April 2013 right up to 20 May 2013, the Flower Field will see a colourful sea of tulips. Some 20,000 tulip bulbs which were planted on last Tuesday by 100 volunteers have already started to bloom and are expected to be in full bloom this week.

It won’t be hard to imagine tiptoeing through the tulips at the Gardens by the Bay’s Flower Dome this May.

Yellow tulips in the Flower Field are already in bloom.

Some of the other coloured tulips such as the pink ones are expected to bloom from Monday.

Visitors to the Flower Dome admiring the tulip field which has started to bloom.

The 20,000 bulbs in the Flower Field are part of a total 40,000 which were flown in from the Netherlands by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the official sponsor for Tulipmania. The three week event, will not just see the field of red, pink, yellow, white and purple tulips, but also other colourful spring flowers such as  lilies, hyacinths, daffodils and muscari. To complement the display of tulips and the Dutch theme, five miniature windmills and giant wooden clogs placed both inside and outside the cooled conservatory. Further information on Tulipmania is available at the Gardens by the Bay’s Tulipmania page.

Purple tulips in bloom – some 40,000 bulbs were flown in courtesy of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines – the official sponsor.

Visitors can pose for a photograph in front of the Flower Field wearing giant wooden clogs.

More wooden clogs.

A miniature windmill.

Red and white tulips.

There is a chance to smell the roses too.

In addition to the tulips there are also other spring blooms.

Other spring blooms include daffodils.

White tulips in the Flower Dome.

Pink tulips.

During Tulipmania, visitors can also look forward to activities that will appeal to the young and old. These include the opportunity to learn more about tulips through an Acivity Sheet; create handmade tulip clips; taste Dutch cheeses; create tulip postcards which can be mailed to friends; and celebrate Mother’s Day. Promotions during Tulipmania include discounted admission (15% discount) into the cooled conservatories during Mother’s Day weekend (10-12 May), and  a chance to win a pair of tickets to Keukenhof, Holland, in 2014.

A look into a tulip (photograph taken with LG Optimus G).

A garden in bloom

In Pictures: The Bay South Garden which opened on 29 June 2012 and its two cooled conservatories in full bloom.

A place for community activities … both those that are organised …

… and those that are not …

Ticket queues for entry into the cooled conservatories … the two conservatories which offer a peek into botanical worlds that are out of reach for many are proving to be a hit with visitors to the Bay South Garden.

Cacti in the Flower Dome which replicates the cool dry climate found in areas such as the Mediterranean and Semi-Arid sub-tropical regions around the world.

Ghost Trees from Madagascar.

A thousand year old olive tree.

The Baobabs section of the Flower Dome.

The Flower Dome also features a changing floral display in the Flower Field.

The Cloud Forest replicates the Cool Moist climate of the Tropical Montane regions.

Pitcher plants are abundant in the Cloud Forest.

As are some rather unusual orchids.

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All photographs in this post have been taken using a Sony α57 (SLT-A57) DSLR camera.

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More information:

• The Supertree Grove, OCBC Skyway and Cloud Forest by night
• Official Opening on 28 June 2012 (with photos inside the completed Cloud Forest)
• In the merry month of May (Night twilight views)
• Ascent into the Clouds (A preview of the Cloud Forest)
• New Light in the Old Harbour (Night scenes from November 2011)
• Sneak Peek at the Gardens (A sneak peek in November 2011)
• Gardens by the Bay website
• Getting to the Gardens
• Map of the Bay South Garden

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