Singapore Garden Festival to return with inaugural Horticulture Show in April 2019

Flagship 2018 Festival received a record of more than 600,000 visitors over 14 days

Following the well-received Singapore Garden Festival 2018 (SGF) which ends today, visitors can look forward to the SGF Horticulture Show in April 2019 and the SGF Orchid Show later in the year.

Before its closing hour, the seventh edition of Asia’s premier tropical floral and garden show has received more than 600,000 local and international visitors, a record number for the Festival.

A showcase of horticultural excellence

Organised by the National Parks Board (NParks), the inaugural SGF Horticulture Show will take place from 27 April to 5 May 2019 at the upcoming Jurong Lake Gardens (JLG) West. The nine-day show will be a showcase of horticultural excellence and will comprise a mix of landscape and plant exhibits, competitions, retail and workshops.

Having received a strong positive response for orchid plant competitions, NParks will introduce a new Horticultural Plant Competition for plant enthusiasts and growers alike to showcase their horticulture skills. Sporting eight categories, hobbyists and growers can bring their foliage plants, gesneriads, bromeliads, succulents, carnivorous plants, ferns, flowering plants and edibles to compete for medals and trophies.

“We have seen a growing interest in gardening – through the increase in Community in Bloom gardens, and overall visitorship to our parks and events. We see more people keen on creating their own mini gardens, balcony gardens or getting involved in community gardening in their neighbourhoods, and felt that it is timely for a national horticulture show with competitions that celebrate the fruits of their labour,” said Mr Ng Cheow Kheng, Group Director, Horticulture and Community Gardening, NParks.

In addition, the preliminary selection round for the biennial Floral Windows to the World competition will now take place at the SGF Horticulture Show. This will provide floral designers in Singapore with more preparation time leading up to the competition. At SGF 2018, three representatives from Singapore were picked from a live competition held about four months prior to the Festival to compete against other award winning floral designers from around the world. One participant, Mr Richard Mock, was awarded a silver medal for his display titled “Irisation”.

More details about the various competitions and displays for Singapore Horticulture Show will be made available on www.singaporegardenfestival.com from end September 2018.

A tropical rainforest garden at SGF 2018

Organised by NParks and Gardens by the Bay, SGF 2018 was conceptualised as a tropical rainforest garden with pockets of gardens and displays filled with plants and flowers of varied colours in line with the Festival’s overall theme, “World of Colours!”.

The floral wonderland featured 73 displays put together by 40 internationally and locally acclaimed floral and garden designers, as well as community gardeners, amateur and student designers, bonsai enthusiasts and NParks talents.

Amongst these was “The Wild and the Restless” by Inch Lim from Malaysia, who clinched the Best of Show, Gold and Horticulture Excellence awards in the Landscape Gardens category. Inch had also won these awards at SGF 2016.

Leon Kluge from South Africa was another repeat winner. His Fantasy Garden titled “African Thunder” scored the highest amongst the Gold recipients to secure Best of Show, and also received the Horticulture Excellence award. In 2016, Leon won Gold and Best Outdoor Lighting for his Landscape Garden.

Amongst displays created by professional designers across various competitions, “A Tropical Parody” by Singapore’s Chang Huai-yan and Ng Sze Oun was voted by visitors for the People’s Choice Award. Separately, “Garden of Rosaceae: Our Enchanted Home” by community gardeners from the South East CDC received the Gardeners’ Choice Award. This was determined by visitors’ votes amongst displays in the friendly Gardeners’ Cup competition.

To create a seamless experience throughout the Festival grounds, NParks staff curated a number of non-competitive displays across The Meadow and Supertree Grove. Amongst these were The Mountains, Gothic Gate and Lost Forest that provide differentiated experiences for visitors coming through each SGF entrance; an ASEAN Garden that depicted the unity and strength of the regional bloc; as well as a Secret Garden of Edibles – a collection of fragrant and flowering edible plants from temperate and tropical regions.

Another non-competitive display at SGF 2018 was Orchid Extravaganza at Flower Dome, for which homegrown award-winning filmmaker Royston Tan headlined as the creative director. More than 14,000 orchids of over 120 varieties were showcased in a stunning arrangement conceptualised by the renowned Singaporean film director.

For more information about SGF, please visit www.singaporegardenfestival.com or Facebook page www.facebook.com/SGGardenFest