Orchids in Singapore Botanical Gardens

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Last month I returned from a 5 week trip which took me to Australia by way of Viet Nam, Cambodia and Singapore. In the southern hemisphere, it was spring, although there were plenty of flowers in bloom which we would associate with summer. The driveway of the friends I stayed with in Sydney was lined with clivea. Ironically, one of my early tasks on return was to bring our cliveas, which had been having their ‘summer vacation’ outside, inside, since when one of them has been happily flowering away, although not quite as profusely as the ones in Roseville, Sydney!

One of the highlights, and a Must Visit for any gardener, was the visit I paid to the Botanical Gardens in Singapore. Singapore itself is like a city planted in a vast tropical garden, but the Botanical Gardens are something again, starting with the entrance.

The gardens are extensive and the first section I visited was the part devoted to gingers. This species is, it turns out, varied and extensive in the regions in which it is found (all of them tropical). Here are a few of the ones to be found in the ginger garden.

Probably the highlight of the gardens is the orchid garden, for which a modest charge is made, entrance to the main gardens being free.

Once inside the orchid gardens, the visitor is faced with an embarrassment of riches, as there are orchids EVERYWHERE. In fact, the orchid is virtually the national flower of Singapore, as anyone who has passed through the splendid airport will have discovered. It must be the only airport in the world which has an orchid garden in one of the terminals, as well as a butterfly garden.

Anyway, the visitor is faced with a quite stunning display of orchids, of which the following are a tiny sample.

Many of the paths are lined with orchids, and there are areas devoted to specific types and habitats. There was a variety of shape and colour that I had no idea existed among orchids, so the visit was quite educational.

The Botanical Gardens are magnificently maintained (as is most everything else in Singapore), although one of the gardeners in these pix seemed to be more interested in what was on his mobile than in helping his workmate!

To judge from the van full of orchids, and the carefully hidden pots in many of the borders, most of the orchids are actually cultivated in nurseries and, when ready, are brought in and potted out. Whatever way they are cultivated and planted, the displays are lavish and well justify a visit to the Botanical Gardens when in Singapore. Indeed, the keen visitor could easily spend a whole day there, and, as is also typical of Singapore, the visitor won’t be in danger of starving as there is a very smart restaurant as well as snack bar. Good food and fabulous flowers: a winning combination!

• 9 Nov, 2011
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