Over the easter break i took a trip to Singapore and naturally ended up walking through lot of their lush green gardens, which are amazing! Singapore have such a great variety of gardens within close proximity to the city and they’re well worth a look if you’ve got a few hours to spare. The climate is humid with temperatures that vary little throughout the year and it was impressive to see such an abundance of green compared to our ever changing Melbourne climate and the resulting constant plant protection dance we have over here, it sometimes seems like we’re in defensive mode all year round trying to shield our beloved plants from the elements!
One of our first stops, and definitely a highlight was the incredible Gardens By The Bay. Strangely enough they happened to have a tulip show, it was certainly odd walking out of 30 degree heat into a climate controlled room filled with tulips and hyacinths – with the obligatory dutch theme of course. Nevertheless i always love seeing large swaths of colour. My pictures don’t really do it justice as i caught the end of the day light when the indoor lights were coming on, but here goes anyway:
But what i really loved were the succulents they had on display, they always look great en masse:
Of course, being a florist, i couldn’t really go to Singapore without feeling the need to check out Singapore Orchids (not to mention a Singapore Sling or two). For this we made our way to the botanic gardens, and to the National Orchid Garden housed inside. Again, very close to the city and easily accessible.
Normally we try to source flowers grown locally, but Singapore Orchids are an obvious exception to the rule, you’ve just got to go to the source to get these, they’re beautiful straight off the plane from Singapore and even more so in the setting of the Botanic Gardens. It houses an Orchid Hybrid programme and produces some amazing colours and variations, some of which are named after State visitors and VIPs, such as Princess Di and Margaret Thatcher to promote goodwill between nations.
There were some incredibly vibrant colours:
And some weird and wonderful shapes:
Stupid me didn’t write down the name of these in case you’re wondering, i was too busy gawking and snapping photos like any good tourist does.
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