Highrise Garden

Highrise Garden

In most housing estates in Singapore, you can find highrise gardens - those little pockets of space on balconies where residents keep potted plants and flowers. Many of these tiny gardens in the sky are located within HDB flats and condominiums.

In this particular highrise garden that I visited, an entire floor is used for gardening, park and playground all rolled into one. These highrise gardens, surrounded by highrise buildings, are not cloistered in dark enclosed spaces. Instead they receive plenty of sun and rain as they remain uncovered.

Residents living around these gardens are a few steps away from the park amenities like jogging track, children's playground, tables and benches and beautiful plants and flowers. Apparently, these skyrise gardens have been shown to lower temperatures, to make concrete living environments more eco-friendly.

Where can you find these highrise gardens in Singapore? If you travel north to Punggol housing estate, you may miss these highrise gardens as they are not visible at ground level. You need to climb several levels to the rooftop of car parks in Punggol estate to visit them.

Take a look at the various photographs that I've taken at one particular highrise garden in Singapore.

Highrise Garden Photo 1: Split level community garden.



Highrise Garden photo 2: Beneath this garden lies a cavernous carpark.



Highrise Garden photo 3: Amenities at rooftop garden.



Do you know of any public highrise garden in Singapore?

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Telok Ayer Green

Telok Ayer Green
(Where is this offbeat place in Singapore Part 4 of 4: The Answer)

Part 1 of "Where is this offbeat place in Singapore".
Part 2 of this offbeat place is over here.
Part 3 is here.

In my "Where is this offbeat place in Singapore" quiz, I featured three photographic clues obtained from these sculptures at Telok Ayer Green.

Photo: Can you recognise the areas that I used for the clues in this image taken at Telok Ayer Green (two cropped shots were taken from this picture)?

(The following post was published in yesterday.sg on 11 March 2009.)

Telok Ayer Green is an outdoor garden located between Telok Ayer Street and Amoy Street. It lies sandwiched between two historic sites - Nagore Durgha and Thian Hock Keng Temple.

Visitors can drop by this small garden anytime of the day. The park is open to the public and there is no entrance fee. If you are looking for a museum to read about the sculptures, there is none. Instead the text are scattered throughout this park.

On my visit, I found Telok Ayer Green to be a tiny but cozy garden with a small pond next to benches under shady trees.

The outstanding feature of Telok Ayer Green does not rest in the pretty flowers, leafy plants or tranquil pond scenery. Instead, of significant note are the plaques and sculptures planted at Telok Ayer Green detailing the history of Amoy Street and Telok Ayer Street. I have photographed these plaques and sculptures to share the rich history of our forefathers.


[Click on thumbnail images for larger view.]

Reading these historical notes and viewing the life-sized sculptures of residents who lived during those times seemed rather surreal.

With my mind, I watched immigrants arrive here by the boatloads in 1820. With my eyes, I saw tourists mingling around Telok Ayer Green by the busloads in 2009. There are no Indian milk traders plying their wares now. There are no Malay fishermen living in kelongs around reclaimed land now. There are also no Chinese coolies carrying sacks of rice now.

But what those Indian, Malay and Chinese immigrants started at Amoy Street and Telok Ayer Street was a new beginning. A new life that would eventually lead to what Singapore has now become.

While most of the immigrants' way of life is no longer tenable, not all traces of the past have been wiped out by time. Buildings like Nagore Durgha, Thian Hock Keng Temple, Abrar Mosque and Telok Ayer Methodist Church, to name a few, have survived with dignity and relevance.

While the cynical will consider them as marketing ploys for tourists, most open-minded persons will see how these historical buildings serve useful community functions. Only the rare breed of heritage lovers will appreciate the critical role such conserved sites play as physical testament of Singapore's history.

I hope Telok Ayer Green and neighbouring historical buildings continue to serve the community as they draw new visitors of all ages and cultures. Besides enjoying park amenities, visitors will hopefully learn more about Singapore's past and in the process, value more of what we have today.

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Koi Garden In Singapore

Picture: Koi Garden at Suntec City, Singapore.

Koi Garden In Singapore

The Koi Garden is one of my favourite places at Singapore's Suntec City. The best time to visit this Koi Garden for me is after dark when the lights come on and without a hungry stomach searching for dinner.

Picture: Star-struck visitors at Koi Garden

This body of water is filled with plus-sized Japanese carps that seem to radiate health. Their scales glisten in the spotlight with delightful hues as they swim gracefully in the shallow pond.

Visitors are a common sight around the edge of the pond. Excited shouts, pointed fingers and gleeful smiles occur frequently when a new cohort of passers-by arrives.

Somehow, the fishes in the Koi Garden with pretty landscaping and soothing rhythm of flowing water exert a therapeutic effect.

As we live in a concrete jungle squashed by human traffic almost everywhere, I am sure many souls would require more such spaces to make the journey through life a little more bearable.

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Bougainvillea Garden East Coast Park

Photograph: Bougainvillea Garden, East Coast Park.

Bougainvillea Garden East Coast Park

For beautiful garden views of Bougainvilleas in bloom, visit the Bougainvillea Garden on East Coast Park. Formerly called the Shrub Garden, this patch of land at East Coast Park’s Area F (next to carpark F2) has been transformed into a flowering paradise where one can enjoy the flowers next to a picturesque beach.

Best of all, a three-storey-high tower sits on this beachside location. (For my regular readers, you will know that I have a soft spot for towers.) Access to the top of the tower is through a spiral staircase. There does not appear to be balcony space for visitors to stand on the higher levels. This makes me wonder why it was built in the first place.

Photograph: Tower at Bougainvillea Garden, East Coast Park

Visitors can only walk up the circular slope to the first level for a bird’s eye view of the Bougainvillea Garden. Moreover, a locked gate prevented my attempt to reach the apex of the Bougavillea garden tower. There was no other way to reach the top of the tower, short of scaling the outer walls.

The well-maintained Bougainvilleas were pruned to various shapes and sizes. When in bloom, expect bouquets of colours to greet cyclists, joggers, skaters and other passers-by. Pub-crawlers keen for drinks can sit at the patio of a restaurant (Sunset Bay Beach Bar) at one corner of Bougainvillea Garden.

Photograph: Tower view of Bougainvillea Garden, East Coast Park

East Coast Park’s Area F is also a designated place for barbecues. BBQ pits (numbers 57 to 66) are found a short walk from Bougainvillea Garden. There are also Bring-Your-Own-Pit (BYOP) designated areas further along the beach. Convenient public toilets and washrooms are available next to the carpark F2.

For a scenic place along East Coast Park to enjoy views of the sea, sun and flowers, Bougainvillea Garden is a recommended spot to visit.

Map of Bougainvillea Garden in Area F, East Coast Park (click link to see).

Read more in Seen This Scene That:
1. Castle Beach, East Coast Park
2. East Coast Park Playground
3. East Coast Park

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Beautiful Gardens In Singapore: SGF Part 2

Beautiful Gardens In Singapore: SGF Part 2

Why do people like to visit beautiful gardens in Singapore, especially one lined with many fantasy gardens like those at the Singapore Garden Festival? Beautiful gardens in Singapore that are so esoteric that they can’t be easily transplanted into high-rise living quarters? Beautiful gardens that can’t fit in Singapore’s high-rise living rooms due to the perpetual shortage of decent space for gardens?

Perhaps it is this deprivation of beautiful gardens in Singapore, in our high-rise homes that spur people to look for some substitute gardens that they find absent in their lives. Or perhaps beautiful fantasy gardens nowadays can refer to a pot or two of exotic beautiful flowers that people can bring into their homes. Or it could be due to the fact that promoters have spent a beautiful sum of money on advertising, to draw people’s interest in the beautiful biennial Singapore Garden Festival. The straight answer is “I don’t know”.

Whatever the reasons, I now find myself waxing lyrical about the beauty and awe of the Singapore Garden Festival, especially its beautiful gardens at the Fantasy Gardens themed exhibition in Singapore's Suntec City Convention Centre.

In the continuation of my post on the Fantasy Gardens at the Singapore Garden Festival, here is the line up of the remaining beautiful gardens worth a visit.

Island Journeys
Designed by Kelvin Chua from New Zealand, this beautiful garden piece is the result of his abstract ideas on paths between places and the spaces that exist in between.

photo: Message in a Bottle

Message in a Bottle
Designer Charlie Evans from Australia loves the Australian coastline’s beauty so much that he brought over the native plants from Down Under to present a garden with his quirky take on the beautiful relationship with the beach.

Search for Peace in the Maze of Daily Existence
S K Gutgutia from India tries to make a statement on how to cope with urbanization and the rat race through this garden design. One half of his design reveals a maze of plants looking congested and complicated, while the design next to the maze offers a contrasting Zen-like tranquility.

photo: Season of Mist

Season of Mist
This rainforest fantasy garden, designed by Diana Williams & Robert Cantley from Sri Lanka, features rare and spectacular-looking Nepenthes, the pitcher plants. It offers a rather unique and uber-cool visual experience like no other.

photo: A Garden of Dreams

A Garden of Dreams
Of all the fantasy garden designs, I find Alan Tan’s (from Singapore) garden to carry the most traditional garden look with its window-dotted fencing wall surrounding many beautiful flowering plants around a pavilion.

The artistic creativity in garden designs is evident in all the ten entries competing in the Fantasy Gardens segment of the Singapore Garden Festival. This beauty pageant for fantasy gardens is a once-in-two-year event. To witness such world-class beautiful garden presentations is infinitely worth more than the garden festival’s entrance price.

Catch the Singapore Garden Festival before it ends on 1 August 2008. Don’t worry if you miss this beautiful gardens exhibition in Singapore. The next edition of the Singapore Garden Festival is only two years away, in the year 2010.

See my other Garden Festival posts in Seen This Scene That:
1. Singapore Garden Festival 2008: Fantasy Gardens (Part 1)

2. Singapore Orchid Show 2008

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Singapore Botanic Gardens: Evolution Garden

above image: Evolution Garden landscape

Singapore Botanic Gardens: Evolution Garden

Walking into the Evolution Garden of the Singapore Botanic Gardens feels like taking a step back in time. To be precise, I am not talking about returning to the past by a decade or two of history. The setting of this creative concept at the Evolution Garden is more ambitious. This Singapore Botanic Gardens mini garden-within-a-garden brings visitors like my family back into the past by about a million years.

Stepping into Singapore Botanic Gardens’ Evolution Garden is akin to taking a huge leap into unknown territory from the ubiquitous greenery commonly seen in other parts of Singapore Botanic Gardens. The overhead bridge, jagged rocks, stone paths, water ponds, unique plants and other landscape features invoke a mystical Zen-like sensation for visitors unaccustomed to these unusual designs.

Along Evolution garden’s winding footpaths, the evolution that takes place in the animal and plant kingdoms throughout history is illustrated. There are signs along the path of Evolution Garden to inform of the period in history as we walk into each different zones of the garden. Fossilized claw prints of birds can be noted along stone paths of this part of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. From a rather barren landscape, a green scene develops dramatically as we step further into Evolution Garden.


There are many atypical trees and plants displayed at the Evolution Garden. Most have long scientific names that are hard to pronounce and even harder to remember. We half expect a T. Rex dinosaur, dinosaur egg or dinosaur footprints to appear but are disappointed by their absence.

As we exit the dense foliage, we awake from this dream-like journey. We leave Evolution Garden still swamped with memory of the exhibits and stagger back into the present at Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Administrative Details on Evolution Garden:

Singapore Botanic Gardens Opening hours: 5 am to 12 midnight daily

Evolution Garden opening hours: 7am to 7pm
Admission Fee: Free

1. Map of Evolution Garden, Singapore Botanic Gardens
2. Website of Singapore Botanic Gardens

3. Discover how to get to Evolution Garden by bus, by car, by coach or by taxi.

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Singapore Orchid Show 2008

Singapore Orchid Show 2008

above: Singapore Orchid Show exhibits

For lovers of all things related to Orchids, the Singapore Orchid Show 2008 is a must-see exhibition that true-blue hobbyists should not miss. For others like my family of five who do not possess above-average affinity to Orchids, the Singapore Orchid Show is still a fun learning excursion.

Within the cavernous Level 4 hall of Suntec City Convention Centre are many hundreds of Orchids that enthusiasts from Singapore and around the world have assembled to showcase their pride and joy. The Singapore Orchid Show starts on 25 July 2008 and ends on 1 August 2008.

I visited the Singapore Orchid Show 2008 on the opening day evening with my family in tow. Within this huge Suntec City Convention Centre exhibition hall was a labyrinth of stalls, stage, showcase structures and even a giant cage. Besides the Singapore Orchid Show, there were exhibits with themes ranging from Garden Fiesta, Vibrant Marketplace and Clarins Learning Garden.

At the Garden Fiesta, educational, recreational and entertainment activities awaited families, serious gardeners and hobbyists. We saw fresh local vegetables and spices in full bloom (like spinach, kang kong, mint and even corn plants) for visitors to learn about them. These vegetables and spices stood tall in boxed containers with leaves and roots, unlike those sanitized versions sold in wet markets.

The Vibrant MarketPlace was a collection of stalls minded by traders who were offering a wide array of plants, gardening and landscape products and services, and arts & craft under the same roof.

I had trouble looking for the Clarins Learning Garden that was parked in a far corner to the right of the entrance just behind a ceremonial stage. I wanted to bring my children here to learn about eco-living and how to reduce their carbon footprint on this planet.

Although no official guides were around to hand out games at the time of our visit, we still managed to learn a little. Posters hung across the Clarins Learning Garden explained in simple terms the concepts and the details of eco-living. Slogans like reuse, reduce and recycle were prominently highlighted.

As I am not a hobbyist specializing in Orchids, the complex scientific names of Orchids were a bunch of letters that held little meaning to me. Yet the ability to enjoy colourful flowers and delightful floral arrangements is a gut-level skill that visitors to the Singapore Orchid Show, regardless of age or knowledge, should possess.

Free your mind from any preconceived ideas with regards to how Orchids should look like and you’ll be amazed at the impressive range at Singapore Orchid Show 2008. Keep an open mind to better appreciate the beauty of nature’s creation (with the help of enthusiastic Orchid cultivators). Let your heart’s inner eye choose those Orchids and flowers that appeal and savour the experience like we did at the Singapore Orchid Show.

A visit to the Singapore Orchid Show, as part of the Singapore Garden Festival, is a pleasant yet educational way for a family with kids to spend an otherwise routine evening, away from the rigors of homework, revision and learning ‘spelling’.

More details:
1. Official site of Singapore Garden Festival
2. Map of Singapore Orchid Show
3. Link to Suntec City Convention Centre

You can read more of my post on Singapore Garden Festival:
1. Singapore Garden Festival 2008: Fantasy Gardens
2. Subscribe to read Seen This Scene That.

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Singapore Garden Festival 2008: Fantasy, Assembly, Greenery and Beauty

Singapore Garden Festival 2008: Fantasy, Assembly, Greenery and Beauty

Today I stepped into a wonderful world of flowers and plants, transformed into unbelievable landscapes that enthralled visitors at the Singapore Garden Festival 2008. For the best in whimsical garden designs, implemented by the most capable horticultural partners, look no further than the Fantasy Gardens exhibition at Level 6 of Suntec Convention Centre.

The crème-de-la-crème of garden designers in Singapore and around the world has put together an amazing collection of concepts to wow visitors from 25 July 2008 to 1 August 2008.


Top of the standout list is ‘Seeking Shangri-La’, designed by Singaporean Peter Cheok who won the Best of Show and a Gold Medal at the 2006 edition of the Singapore Garden Festival. His Shangri-La is portrayed in a not-too-distant future like an underwater world where sea levels have risen beyond mountain peaks. Plant-life still managed to thrive in this post apocalyptic scenario and we can see this picturesque subterranean paradise under shifting ice sheets.

In ‘Memories of a Water Village’, Sing Xiaogu from China has created a carbon copy paradise of Jiangnan’s hills and lakes. I liked the beautiful scene of a lake that ripples with each wriggle of carps under a water boat approaching a colourful flowering shore. The message in this creation emphasizes the need to conserve natural heritage amidst human progress.

David Davidson from South Africa, in his ‘Imbizo yase Afrika’ creation, has transported major elements from Africa’s native land into Singapore. His garden is aptly named an Imbizo, as its meaning in African Zulu refers to a gathering. At center stage in his garden is a structure with a dome shaped roof that represents the best of Zulu dwelling, with two giraffes taking shelter inside it. Layered around this structure are native plants from the Cape Floristic Region.

The ‘Rose of Glendalough’ by John Cullen of USA appears to be a crowd puller with the splendour of shifting light casting rich tones on a replica of an old Irish chapel. The garden flowers and plants seem to glow and grow; embracing the stone architecture until the whole scene appears as one delightful natural retreat.


The ModGod Garden by Ng Sek San of Malaysia harks back to the days of temple gardens when priests and kings once ruled the world. Given a modern twist, this garden made of vertical walls filled with colourful plants that reveal the identities of two modern day personalities who are worshipped and admired with almost similar religious fervour. Can you spot one of them in this picture?

There are five more plots of fantasy gardens at the Singapore Garden Festival that are worth checking out. I will keep them secret so as not to spoil your fun when you visit them later.

In fact there are fourteen Floral Windows to the World that showcase flower power in various forms. Another eight Landscape Gardens, well worth seeing, also beckon at Suntec City Convention. If you love Orchids, there is an entire floor at Level 4 devoted to the many mouth-watering hybrids, with many award-winning entries placed next to their trophies.

Children can also study about eco-living and the various ways to reduce mankind’s carbon footprint at the Learning Centre.

Singapore Garden Festival 2008, a well-presented exhibition of the best works from around the world, has something to touch the heart of every visitor. I highly recommend Singapore Garden Festival for all to see, from unconvinced readers to niche hobbyists who expect the best and nothing less.

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Links to help you find your way to Singapore Garden Festival:

Link for Singapore Garden Festival online tickets

Link for Singapore Garden Festival official website

Link for map of Suntec City Convention Centre

Link for Suntec City Convention Centre

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Walk At Hortpark On Southern Ridges Park Connector Again

Walk At Hortpark On Southern Ridges Park Connector Again?

There are many great parks and places in Singapore to walk, to suit every mood, season, inclination and reason. With so many parks and places in Singapore to choose for visits, would you walk at a select few spots, like the Southern Ridges Park Connector’s Hortpark, without hesitation? Certainly! For my family and I, this gardening hotspot at Hortpark will never be retired from our permanent list of must-walk-again-and-again kind of place.

With hindsight from our previous walk at Hortpark, (read about hortpark here), the beating of a hot afternoon sun should not be tolerated if you prefer to maintain fair-skinned complexions, zero risk of developing skin cancers and perspiration-free armpits.



Your hortpark walking and tour itinerary should allow plenty of free time to wander and meander around the various flowers, plant species and outdoor exhibits. Revisit old park spots to understand better why certain Hortpark landscaping areas appeal more to the senses than others during your walks.


I would also add that the company you bring along for the walk at Hortpark would have a bearing on your enjoyment of Hortpark features. From a soloist on a pensive escapade to a gregarious extended family picnic setting, and many combinations in between the two extremes, I can see Hortpark bending backwards to accommodate all kinds of walkers.


It would take many more paragraphs to elucidate all the reasons why one should visit and walk at the Southern Ridges Park Connector’s Hortpark again and again. As a saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand walks ...er I mean words”, I hope my photographs taken during my walk at Hortpark will make the appropriate ‘walk the talk’ statements.




Here's my earlier post on Hortpark:
1. Hortpark: A Hot Place To Visit

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Tampines Expressway Pink Bloom

Tampines Expressway Pink Bloom

The rare sight of trees covered in a bloom of pink flowers by the side of Tampines Expressway occurs for about a week in Singapore. I caught sight of this expressway-side tree in full pink bloom in June 2008, with more trumpet-like flowers scattered beneath the branches like a pink carpet.

According to the Nparks floraweb, this tree is called Tabebuia rosea. Other names that have been used include Pink Poui, Rosy Trumpet, Pink Tecoma, Pink Poui, Trumpet Tree and New World Trumpet.

The pink bloom brings images of Sakura season. While they may not rival those in Japan during Sakura season, it still provides eye candy in an otherwise drab Expressway landscape. It would be lovely for a family to gather around this pink bloom for a spot of family picnic. Unfortunately, the speeding cars wheezing by with a lingering trail of pungent pollutants and noise are not conducive for such a family outing.

Could we have more of these pink blooms in our parks and nature reserves instead?

See National Parks Board (Nparks) website.

Read more inside Seen This Scene That about places in Tampines:
1. Sun Plaza Park, Tampines

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Jacob Ballas Children's Garden, Singapore Botanic Gardens

Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden, Singapore Botanic Gardens

Other than privately owned children’s playgrounds in condominiums and childcare centres, the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden of the Singapore Botanic Gardens must stand out as the only major public children’s playground to possess its own entrance gate and a plethora of security personnel. Beyond its high-security look-alike set-up with its own perimeter fence guarded by a turnstile, the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden of the Singapore Botanic Gardens located off Bukit Timah Road is Asia’s first children’s Garden and a fun place to learn about life sciences.



With a wonderful collection of fun playthings with the right amount of educational fun, children will generate memorable fun moments during a visit to the Singapore Botanic Garden’s Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden. On an area map of this place in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden is divided into many sections. Click here for a map of Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden. There are attractions like the Waterplay Area, Plants Recycle Area, the Magic of Photosynthesis and the Potting Garden that children will enjoy.


Of all these attractions, the Tree House must rank as the most beloved item in our family. Nestled among the branches and leaves of a tall tree, Jacob Ballas Garden’s most distinguished tree house is a dream-come-true for children who have never laid eyes on one. My wife enjoyed her time on the sturdy wooden planks too, on the pretext of escorting our children up the tree house. Two tunnel slides, painted bright red, allow kids to vroom down from three-storeys high like a soon-to-appear Singapore Grand Prix Formula One (F1) racer. Adults may also use the slides without shame (to test the slides before the kids take their turns) as the construction appears as tough as it looks.

The other must-try item is the Suspension Bridge made of rope and wood that straddles across a small pond. This miniature suspension bridge will test children’s sense of balance as they attempt to walk across a wobbly swinging bridge.

The Kids A-Mazing Play area, made of plant hedges, is another favourite play zone for my kids at Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden. Getting lost and chasing voices around a maze seems like a fun activity no kid can run away from. The lesson on photosynthesis comes alive in another section of this Singapore Botanic Garden enclave where children get to learn how sunlight, carbon dioxide and water is turned into nutrients for plants. The traditional Sandy Pit where children can get their hands dirty is a sure-fire crowd puller.

Washing facilities are top notch at Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden and a small café on site serves beverages and convenience food with tables for a family meal. A carpark is situated just outside the entrance to the Children's Garden.

This garden is definitely highly recommended for families with children.

Jacob Ballas Garden, Singapore Botanic Gardens

• Opening Hours = 8 am to 7 pm. Closed on Mondays.
• Only children less than 12 years old allowed.
• Adults must accompany all children.
• Npark's SBG website
• Admission free

Read more, see maps of Botanic Garden.

Do you have places to recommend?

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