Singapore's flowers like no others
Singapore's gardens impress Leyanne Baillie.
Growing up in the cool climate of Scotland always made me hanker for something warmer. One of my favourite places to visit was the hothouses of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. As the temperature rose, my spirits would lift. I would wander among the tropical greenery, enthralled by the exotic colours of the orchids within.
But the flowers in the little glasshouses of my youth have nothing on the magnificent display that is before me today. The National Orchid Garden in the Singapore Botanic Gardens is hybrid heaven, with more than 1000 species in its collection.
Orchids have been associated with the Singapore Botanic Gardens from the time of its establishment in 1859. When H.N. Ridley, a trained orchidologist, became the director of the Gardens in 1888, he embarked on a program to develop the orchid collection. Ridley was also instrumental in pioneering the Malay rubber industry and he persuaded Malay planters to grow rubber trees after he realised their commercial potential. His efforts saw rubber become the major cash crop of the region when the existing coffee plantations were devastated by disease. By 1920, Malaya was producing over half the world's rubber and it is still an important crop for the region today.
It was Ridley who discovered the famous national flower of Singapore. Vanda Miss Joaquim is the most exquisite specimen, named after Agnes Joaquim, an Armenian woman who bred the hybrid and showed it to Ridley in 1893. It became the national flower in 1981. You will see the delicate, frilled lilac and pink blossoms in many places in Singapore; the orchids are known for their ability to flower all year round and the displays in the gardens are spectacular.
The Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid
In 1928, Richard Eric Holttum, the director of the Gardens, conducted the first experiments in orchid breeding and hybridisation. This resulted in free-flowering and hardy orchids which laid the foundation for the multimillion-dollar cut-flower industry.
As I walk round the Orchidarium, an area of the garden which simulates the natural environment where the majority of the world's orchid species grow, I see a profusion of delicate blooms in white, pale pink, soft yellows and peaches. I move on to the Heritage Orchid Display and am treated to flowers in vivid orange, dark purple, bright fuchsia, yellow with plum and baby pink spotted with magenta. The palette of colours is a painter's dream, the perfection of the delicate petals a florist's fantasy.
Two of the areas I find most interesting are the VIP Orchid Garden and the Celebrity Orchid Garden. Here I discover hybrids named after visiting dignitaries and well-known personalities, including Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, Princess Diana, former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, actor Jackie Chan and singers Elton John and Ricky Martin. Famous Australians to receive the honour are Quentin Bryce, Paul Keating and Bindi Irwin. In 2012 Julia Gillard had an orchid named after her but, as far as I could see, Tony Abbott hasn't.
The Gardens have a lot more to offer than just orchids. It is a tropical oasis which can be reached easily from the city centre using the efficient MRT underground system. There are grand displays of bamboo, gingers and heliconias, a glimpse of Victorian heritage in the white fretwork of the Bandstand and the colonial architecture of Burkill Hall, quirky statues ranging from Girl on a Swing and Lady on a Hammock to a rather grand tribute to composer Frederick Chopin, which was gifted to the people of Singapore from the people of Poland. There's also 6ha of rainforest to explore, you can take a journey through time at the Evolution Garden or let the kids loose in the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden.
The quirky Girl on a Swing
The Botanic Gardens has a new rival for escaping the hustle and bustle of the city. Gardens by the Bay is a stroke of genius. In a city which houses 5.4 million people, the 101ha park brings not only green space to the metropolis but the ability to supplement water supplies by collecting rainwater from drains, roofs and surface run-offs in lakes, which is then used to irrigate the plants, with any surplus channelled into the Marina Reservoir.
The green credentials of the gardens are boosted by the innovative "Supertrees".
More than 200 species and varieties of bromeliads, orchids, ferns and tropical flowering climbers are potted in lofty vertical planters which are fitted with solar batteries to illuminate the trees by night. The green waste from the city's parks and gardens is burnt in an underground biomass boiler and the trees act as an exhaust to disperse the gases created. The boiler heats water which produces steam to power a turbine, which in turn generates electricity to power the system that dries the air in the Flower Dome and the chillers that cool the air in both conservatories.
But not only is it an innovative ecological wonder, it's pretty amazing to look at too, especially when I peer down from the top of a towering metal Supertree structure. It costs me $S5 ($4.63) for entry on to the 22m-high OCBC skyway, a 128m-long walkway which winds its way between two of the trees in Supertree Grove. The views over the gardens are fantastic, the formation of the planting has obviously been done with a bird's-eye view in mind and the sights I'm treated to beyond - the Marina Bay Sands resort, the Singapore Flyer, the river and skyscrapers - are captivating.
A bird's-eye view of Gardens by the Bay from the OCBC Skyway
With 101ha to explore, it would be difficult for me to see all the Gardens in detail in one visit so this time I concentrate on Supertree Grove and Dragonfly Lake. First port of call next time will be the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest, two armadillo- shaped temperate greenhouses containing a cool-dry Mediterranean and subtropical region and a cool-moist tropical montane region, complete with a 35m manmade mountain and waterfall. It will be interesting to see how they compare with similar zones in the Botanic Gardens but I'm sure they will knock spots off Edinburgh's hothouses.
