The Tropical Oasis by Singapore Botanic Gardens at the Singapore Garden Festival. – The Straits Times
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Garden Festival (SGF) is poised to be the premier tropical garden and flower show on the global stage in 2024, gathering leading designers under one roof and showcasing more than 60 displays.
By sheer scale, the ninth edition of the biennial festival – which will take place at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre from Aug 3 to 11 – is staggering.
The festival covers about 22,000sq m, or about 2ha, on Levels 4 and 6. This is nearly the size of 18 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Unlike in 2022 when the festival was held in two locations – Orchard Road and the Singapore Botanic Gardens – 2024’s garden and flower show will be kept entirely indoors and air-conditioned for cool comfort and barrier-free access for all.
SGF attracted more than 700,000 visitors at the double venues two years ago.
Since its inception in 2006, SGF – organised by the National Parks Board (NParks) – has grown steadily and now ranks among the most anticipated horticultural events globally.
Dennis Lim, coordinating director of festivals, events and exhibitions at NParks, says the hope is to attract at least 300,000 visitors in 2024.
This projection is based on past SGF editions at Suntec since the festival’s inception.
In comparison, some of the world’s most prestigious floral festivals are smaller, such as the Melbourne Flower Show in Australia that drew about 103,000 visitors over five days in 2022.
The Chelsea Flower Show, established in 1913 in London, the United Kingdom, has a maximum attendance of 157,000 visitors over five days every year. The attendance is limited by the capacity of the 4.5ha estate.
The 2024 edition of SGF coincides with Singapore playing host to the 8th Global Botanic Gardens Congress, jointly organised by the Singapore Botanic Gardens and Botanic Gardens Conservation International.
It will be held for the first time in South-east Asia at Suntec Singapore from Aug 6 to 9, and is the only global congress dedicated to botanic gardens.
“We decided to co-locate SGF with the congress at Suntec, which is a centrally accessible venue,” Lim tells The Straits Times.
“This will allow participants of the congress to visit SGF with more convenience and vice versa, further amplifying SGF’s significance as a gathering for horticulturists and garden enthusiasts.”
Over close to two decades, several key factors have contributed to SGF’s prominence and appeal.
“SGF attracts top-tier landscape and garden designers, florists and horticulturists from around the globe, making it a significant event in the horticultural calendar,” says Lim.
The festival features award-winning professionals who compete in various categories, including the popular Best of Show Designer Gardens Competition and Floral Windows to the World Championship, which showcase the skills of leading garden and floral designers globally.
The 2024 SGF features 44 garden and floral designers from 18 countries including Singapore.
There are also more than 50 stage programmes for visitors, with talks ranging from caring for plants and indoor gardening to floral arrangement and hydroponics.
Lim says that beyond showcasing floral artistry, SGF also plays a crucial role in engaging the community. This includes competitions and highlights aimed at various groups, from community gardeners to hobbyists to students.
For example, this edition of the community-led Singapore Gardeners’ Cup – a crowd favourite – involves more than 200 gardeners from 40 community gardens.
Displays by young talent will also be showcased in the Landscape Design Challenge, Floral Harmony Competition and Floral Fantasies: Where Nature Meets Fashion segment, which features wearable floral art.
“The festival serves as an educational platform that promotes gardening appreciation among the public,” says Lim.
“It includes various outreach initiatives aimed at encouraging residents to engage with gardening as a lifestyle. This aligns with Singapore’s vision of transforming into a City in Nature.”
As part of the festival’s community highlights, there is a photography exhibition showcasing the talent of migrant workers here, in collaboration with social enterprise Holdinghands Studio.
Its founder, Tan Chin Hock, says the SGF installation, titled Singapore Flora: Through The Lens Of Our Migrant Workers, celebrates their talent through a curation of 30 photographs.
The shots are taken by hobbyist migrant photographers such as foreign domestic workers and construction workers, who come from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India and China.
“We keep seeing our migrant photographers’ flora photos over social media and have absolute confidence in their works,” says Tan, 46, who started Holdinghands Studio in 2021 to harness the power of photography to uplift communities and foster positive societal change.
The social enterprise offers free access to its photography workshops and DSLR equipment donated by the public.
“We are very honoured to be given an opportunity to showcase their works in SGF as one of its highlights.”
Also on Level 4 is the Floral Table-Top contest section featuring whimsical tablescapes dreamed up by designers to woo judges.
Part of this section is taken up by a non-competition centrepiece by John Lim, founder of home-grown botanical design studio This Humid House, which sets the tone for the competition.
“Bukit Bulu” playfully evokes a topography of low hills on a table using tropical ingredients with furry textures, such as the heliconia vellerigera, which is covered in fine hairs.
The work is inspired by the warm, earthen colours of local tableware-maker Luzerne’s stoneware range.
“We designed a low, decagonal table at coffee-table height, paired with batik-upholstered legless chair backs, to seat diners low – as is the tradition in many Asian cultures,” says Lim, a botanical designer who studied architecture at the Cooper Union in New York City, in the United States.
The setting showcases a sprawling, fecund display of tropical flora in shiny brass vessels, deliberately kept low to maintain sight-lines between diners.
Lim, who has practised architecture in New York, Tokyo and Beijing, says the gestural composition of the tabletop arrangement engages in vivid conversation with the playful batik print.
He adds: “Eschewing greens entirely, the fiery reds and oranges of heliconia vellerigera and marigold blaze through a thicket of dried palm inflorescence, glowing brightly in the absence of foliage.”
Info: Those looking for more in-depth tips can register for paid floristry demonstrations and workshops as part of the SGF Master Series at sgf.nparks.gov.sg. SGF tickets are on sale at str.sg/iJtM2 and can also be purchased on-site at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, Levels 4 and 6.
Where: Levels 4 and 6 Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Raffles Boulevard
When: Aug 3 to 11, 10am to 10pm daily (last admission at 9.30pm)
Admission: Adults (residents from S$17, non-residents S$33), child aged three to 12 (residents from S$9, non-residents S$21); tickets available at sgf.nparks.gov.sg and str.sg/iJtM2 or on-site
Info: Those looking for more in-depth tips can register for paid floristry demonstrations and workshops as part of the SGF Master Series at sgf.nparks.gov.sg – The Straits Times/ANN
