Travel / Singapore

Singapore Garden Festival – Garden Fiesta

By Veron Ang | Tags #Suntec City

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Ever wondered how a Chinese water village, or the remnants of an ancient civilisation would fit into the garden city of Singapore? Or maybe a mystical sunken city like this?

Seeking Shangri-La

At the Singapore Garden Festival, you would be enchanted by such award-winning garden creations of art from all over the world. Many of the works are pretty stunning!

My most favorite garden design is the one above. Seeking Shangri-La is an imaginative display of the sunken paradise of Shangri-La. The designer has painstakingly created this illusion with the careful choice of plants that resemble aquatic plant life. Simulated water waves cast moving shadows upon the underwater city. It reminds me of the lost civilisation of Atlantis!

Event: Singapore Garden Festival 2008
Date: July 25 – August 1, 2008
Opening hours: 10am – 10pm
Venue: Suntec Convention Centre

Admission fees:
Adult: $12 (Weekend) / $6 (Weekday)
Senior Citizen/Child: $6 (Weekend) / $3 (Weekday)

www.singaporegardenfestival.com

Building left with just its stone facade

An ancient building lies in ruins with just its stone facade. At certain timings, mist would be sprayed into the air, creating a somewhat dreamy or eerie feel in the jungle. Oops, I mean garden.

Mist surrounding stone building

People living in Singapore do not have the luxury of knowing what it’s like to walk through a wildflower meadow. An exhibit here allows visitors to walk through an indoor meadow filled with little purple flowers! You won’t be able to smell them though, as they are behind glass.

Indoor meadow of purple flowers

Lose yourself in this elegant spiral display.

Spiral

One perpetually crowded exhibit is this giant panel of flowers made up to form the most beautiful face the world has ever seen — Marilyn Monroe’s. Made famous by Andy Warhol‘s iconic pop art, the image is instantly recognisable.

Marilyn Monroe floral display

Another display that forms the image of a famous person is this. Can you recognise who he is?

Mao Zedong floral display

A designer from China built a Chinese water village of substantial size. It was modeled after a traditional farmer’s abode in Jiangnan.

Memories of a Water Village

From another continent is this display of African grasslands, complete with giraffes!

African grasslands

Flowerbeds with colorful flowers, complemented with equally colorful translucent panels hanging from the ceilings.

Colorful flowerbeds

Icicles. Or are they really?

I’m not quite sure what these flowers are. But their vivid magenta and purple shades attracted me from afar. The flowers look as though they are dancing!

"Dancing" flowers

Clay statue in garden

Now, I’m sure most of you recognise this. It’s a patriotic effort created at the most apt timing for our upcoming national birthday. The crescent moon and stars are decorated with shimmery thread and white orchids.

There were also a couple of efforts to recreate Singapore landmarks, such as a fountain in the shape of the Merlion. It even spurts water from its mouth, just like the real Merlion! There’s also the Singapore Flyer and the Esplanade Theatre. The Esplanade Theatre looks cute!

Singapore Flyer and the Esplanade

The Orchid Society of Papua New Guinea presented an eye-catching design!

Papua New Guinea

Really, it’s amazing what creativity and imagination can do to transform a regular garden to an awe-inspiring work of art. For a moment there, I forgot I was in an indoor exhibition and lost myself in the garden fiesta.

Bird of Paradise flower

Another exhibition that bears a similar theme is the Sentosa Flowers show held earlier this year. For now, I shan’t post too many photos as I would encourage all of you to go pay a visit! Do take advantage of the cheaper weekday pricing, check out the gardens and tell me what your favorite is!

For more on Sparklette:

About the Author

Veron Ang is the founder and chief editor of Sparklette. She lives in Singapore and has dined and traveled across the world. She also runs Sparklette Studio, a web design and WordPress development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her personal updates on Twitter: @VeronSG.

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12 responses

Leave your comment

pkchukiss
July 28, 2008

Great coverage of the flowers! Now I won’t need to fork out the the $12 to visit the exhibition, because Veron has done all the legwork! Haha!
Reply
Veron
July 28, 2008

Cheeky! Students get in at 3 dollars on weekdays. Go go!
Reply
steve
July 30, 2008

is a Fuchsia ! :)
Reply
py
July 30, 2008

Thanks for the post. I realised I won’t have the time to visit the exhibition, so your post helps me catch up on what I would have missed. :)
Reply
Kristine
July 31, 2008

Hi Gal…Chance upon your website and i love all your food reviews and the beautiful layout ;) Cheers!
Reply
Veron
July 31, 2008

steve: Guess I should stop calling them the dancing flowers for now. Thanks!

py: I have posted the photos of what I feel are the best of the exhibition. So at least you won’t be missing this event completely :)

Kristine: Thanks dear!
Reply
Walter
August 1, 2008

Very nice coverage of the festival! I just took a truckload of photographs too, but while the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak regarding blogging about this event. I always enjoy the Singapore Garden Festival, and some of the fantasy and futuristic landscapes like the one above make me smile. Its like making the imagination come alive again!
Reply
X Wings
August 1, 2008

Hmm….if only modern technology allows us to smell the flowers online….vaguely remember few years back, someone was looking this…

And wonder how they make those exhibits “mosquitoes-free” ??

Did you get any bites by the way ??

;P
Reply
Veron
August 2, 2008

Walter: I love your last line! It really hit the spot. I was at Suntec last night and saw a huge crowd heading towards the exhibition, wanting to catch a final glimpse during its last few hours. It’s definitely a crowd favorite. They should have this event every year instead of biennially.

x Wings: I wanted to say that there was no stagnant pool of water anywhere for the mosquitoes to breed, but then I realise the Chinese water village garden did have a large pond somewhere! No bites for me, so they probably used some chemicals to keep it mosquitoes-free.
Reply
r.p
August 3, 2008

oh noes! I missed it. If only they opened on 2 Aug… :(

It looks interesting for your picture.
Reply
Niyaz
August 19, 2008

hey gal, wonderful post….i luv sg!!
Reply
superadrianme
July 22, 2010

Yes Singapore Garden Festival is amazing. I visited the Garden Fest last Sunday. Felt that the Garden Fest in 2008 was nicer.

But you can get to check out the photos on my blog.
Reply