Singapore Botanic Gardens

---

Palm in Singapore Botanic Gardens

Singapore Botanic Gardens (Chinese: 新加坡植物园; Malay: "Taman Botanik Singapura" or "Kebun Botani Singapura") is a 63.7-hectare (157-acre) botanical garden in Singapore. It is half the size of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew or around one-fifth the size of Central Park in New York. It is the only botanic garden in the world that opens from 5 a.m. to 12 midnight every single day of the year, and does not charge an admission fee, except for the National Orchid Garden. The garden is bordered by Holland & Napier Road in the South, Cluny Road on the East, Tyersall Ave & Cluny Park Road on its West and Bukit Timah Road in the North. The linear distance between the Northern and Southern end is around 2.5 km.

History

The first "Botanical and Experimental Garden" in Singapore was established in 1822 on Government Hill at Fort Canning by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore and a keen naturalist. The Garden's main task was to evaluate for cultivation, crops which were of potential economic importance, including those yielding fruits, vegetables, spices and other raw materials. This first Garden closed in 1829.

It was not until 30 years later that the present Singapore Botanic Gardens began in 1859, when the Agri Horticultural Society was granted 32 hectares of land in Tanglin by the colonial government, which had obtained it from merchant Hoo Ah Kay or Whampoa, in exchange for land at Boat Quay.

Laurence Niven was hired as superintendent and landscape designer to turn what were essentially overgrown plantations and a tangle of virgin rainforest into a public park. The layout of the Gardens as it is today is largely based on Niven's design. The Agri Horticultural Society, however, ran out of funds and, in 1874, the colonial government took over the management of the Gardens.

The first rubber seedlings came to the gardens from Kew in 1877. A naturalist, Henry Nicholas Ridley, or Mad Ridley as he was known, became director of the gardens in 1878 and spearheaded rubber cultivation. Successful in his experiments with rubber planting, Ridley convinced planters across Malaya to adopt his methods. The results were astounding; Malaya became the world's number one producer and exporter of natural rubber.

Another achievement was the pioneering of orchid hybridisation by Professor Eric Holttum, director of the gardens from 1925 to 1949. His techniques led to Singapore being one of the world's top centres of commercial orchid growing. Today it also has the largest collection of tropical plant specimens.

During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945, Hidezo Tanakadate, a professor of geology from Tohoku Imperial University took over control of the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Raffles Museum. During his tenure at the beginning of the occupation, he ensured that no looting occurred in the Gardens and the museum. Both institutions continued to function as scientific institutions. Holttum and Edred John Henry Corner were interned in the Gardens and instructed to continue their horticultural work. The Gardens was also renamed as Shōnan Botanic Gardens (昭南植物園). Later that year, Dr Kwan Koriba, a retired professor of botany from the Imperial University of Tokyo, arrived as Director of the Gardens, a post he held until the end of the war.

After the war, the Gardens was handed back to the control of the British. Eventually it played an important role during the "greening Singapore" campaign and Garden City campaign during the early independence years.

Attractions

National Orchid Garden

The main attraction within the botanic gardens. Located on the mid-western side of the garden, the hilly three hectare site has a collection of more than 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids of orchids.

Within the orchid garden, there are a number of mini-attractions such as:

Burkill Hall & VIP Orchid Garden: Burkill Hall is a colonial plantation bungalow built in the year 1886. It used to be the Director’s House and was named in honour of the only father and son pair, Isaac and Humphrey Burkill, to hold the post of Director of Singapore Botanic Gardens. Currently the ground level serves as an exhibition area. It showcases information on the different hybrids named after VIPs who have visited the garden.

At the back of the Burkill Hall is the VIP Orchid Garden and here the real hybrids of some of the VIP orchids are on display. Some notable ones include: "Dendrobium" Margaret Thatcher, "Renantanda" Akihito, "Dendrobium" Masako Kotaishi Hidenka, "Dendrobium" Elizabeth.

Orchidarium: The haven for serious orchids enthusiasts. Only the natural species are on display here in a tropical setting.

Tan Hoon Siang Misthouse: Unknown to most people, Tan Hoon Siang was a descendant of Tan Tock Seng (founder of Tan Tock Seng Hospital and a philanthropist). The misthouse house contains a colourful collection of different hybrids. It also has a small collection of fragrant orchids like "Vanda" Mimi Plamer.

Lady Yuen-Peng McNeice Bromeliad House: Named in honour of its sponsor, the Bromeliad showcases plant from the Bromeliaceae family. Pineapple is a famous member of the bromeliad family. "The unique collection of bromeliads on display was acquired from Shelldance Nursery in the United States in 1994".

Coolhouse: The Cool House tries to recreate the environment of a tropical highland forest and so it showcases orchids that are normally only found in the tropical highland areas.

Rainforest

The Singapore Botanic Gardens has a small tropical rainforest, of around six hectares in size, which is older than the gardens itself. The Botanic Gardens' rainforest and its bigger cousin at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve are located well within the Singapore's city limits. Singapore is one of the only two major cities with a tropical rainforest within its city limits - The other is Rio de Janeiro's Tijuca Forest.

Evolution Garden

A new attraction at the botanic garden is the 1.5-hectare Evolution Garden, located within the Central Core. The Evolution Garden tells the evolution story of plant life on Earth throughout the ages.

Ginger Garden

Located next to the National Orchid Garden, this one hectare garden lumps together the collection of members of the family Zingiberaceae. The garden houses a restaurant (Halia Restaurant). There is also a drop-off point along Tyersall Avenue as well as a waterfall. The garden was officially opened in 2003 and it took over the spot vacated by the previous Orchid Enclosure.

Botany Centre and Tanglin Gate

The recently re-opened Tanglin Gate was given a new look. Gone was the old cast iron gate, it now sports a more modern sliver colour with a leaf motif as its main design.

The 2 new blocks of offices and classroom in the upgraded Tanglin Core were known as the Botany Centre. It houses the:
*Library of Botany & Horticulture (including the Public Reference Centre)
*The Singapore Herbarium
*Orchid Breeding & Micropagation
*Education Outreach/ Workshop classrooms

The corridors and walkways of the Botany Centre were covered by leaf imprint. And there are also a number of wooden craving that littered the ground. There are also fern covered vertical walls.

The Green Pavilion is the first "green roof" in Singapore. Weed-like or grass-like plants fully covered the pitched roof. It houses the visitor services desk as well as the foodcourt (Taman Serasi Food Garden) at its basement.

The offices of former directors namely Holttum Hall (named after Eric Holttum, Director of the Gardens from 1925 - 1949) and Ridley Hall (after Henry Nicholas Ridley, first director of Gardens from 1888 - 1911) were preserved and now serve as the Singapore Botanic Gardens' Directorate and Visitor Management & Rangers offices.

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

The children's garden was named after its main donor the late Mr Jacob Ballas, a Jewish-Singaporean philanthropist who passed away in 2000.

Built at a cost of S$7 million (of which S$3 million was donated by the Jacob Ballas Trust and sponsors), it is located at the quiter Northern end of the botanic gardens. It has its own Visitor Centre with a cafe. It was opened on 1 October 2007 (Children's Day). NParks claimed it is Asia's first children's garden. There are play areas like the Water Play area, a small playground, tree-houses with slides, maze...etc. There are also interactive exhibits areas like teaching how photosynthesis work in a fun way, mini-garden that showcase different uses of plants like in making dyes, beverages or as herbs.

At the children's garden visitor centre stand an interesting wooden-looking sculpture by an Israeli sculptor Zodok Ben-David. Named "Mystree", it was commissioned by the Yad Vashem Museum (Holocaust Martyrs) in 2003. From a distance, the sculpture look like a tree but a closer look reveal 500 human figures forming the "tree".

Although it is part of the botanic garden, it has its own entrance along Bukit Timah Road (same entrance as the Bukit Timah Campus of the National University of Singapore).

Other Attractions

Saraca Stream walk is another new attraction, tropical plants line the bank of the stream as it meanders its way down a small hill. The main highlights of the stream walk are the Yellow Saraca trees (saraca cauliflora) and Red Saraca (Saraca declinata). As most of the plantings in the area are still quite young, it will take a few more years before the full bloom spectacular of the Saraca will be able reach its full potential.

Other attractions include the Palm Valley, Bandstand area, Sun Garden and Sundial Garden.

The Botanic Gardens has three lakes, namely Symphony Lake, Eco-Lake and Swan Lake. The Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage on Symphony Lake occasionally has free concerts on weekends. Notable performers include the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

The headquarters of the National Parks Board is located within the grounds of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Eateries within the garden include a French fine-dining restaurant in a colonial bungalow (Au Jardin Les Amis), a cafe at the visitor centre (Cafe Les Amis), and a restaurant at the Ginger Garden (Halia Restaurant). There are also gift shops for visitors.

Future developments (2010 onward)

Botanic Gardens MRT Station is another future development. It is to be located at the North-Western part of the Bukit Timah core of the Gardens. The station is part of the Circle Line, due to be open in 2010. The station will also be an interchange station for the proposed Downtown Line's Bukit Timah Section. With the opening of the station, getting to the gardens via public transport will be made far more convenient to residents and visitors alike.

During the launch of the Children's Garden, the CEO of NParks mentioned that the Singapore Botanic Gardens will be expanded to include another 11 ha of land. The land was previously occupied by Singapore Management University.

With the extra land, visitor can look forward to a new garden within the next 3 to 4 years time.

NParks revealed that it will spend some S$30 million over the next four years to build 5 thematic gardens around the newly accquired land. The first garden will be the Healing Garden, expected to open by the first half of 2010.

The other 4 gardens will be Fragrant Garden, Terrace Garden, Foliage Valley and Ethnootany Garden.

However if past projects is of any indication, these projects might not be open on time. For example, the Botany Centre and Tanglin Re-development was supposed to open by 2005 did not open till 2006. The Children's Garden was supposed to be completed by 2006 but did not open till October 2007.

Gallery

ee also

*Tourism in Singapore
*List of parks in Singapore
*List of botanical gardens

References

*National Heritage Board (2002), "Singapore's 100 Historic Places", Archipelago Press, ISBN 981-4068-23-3
*Singapore Botanic Gardens (1989), "Visions of Delight - The Singapore Botanic Gardens through the ages", Tien Wah Press, Singapore, ISBN 9971-88-2503-5

External links

* [http://www.sbg.org.sg/index.asp Singapore Botanic Gardens - Official site]
* [http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/what_to_see/parks___nature_reserves/singapore_botanic.html Uniquely Singapore website]
* [http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=parks&id=33&Itemid=73 National Parks Board website]