Fancy Garden Gnomes? Singapore Garden Festival 2016 Pics

Garden by the Bay

The Singapore Garden Festival is biennial event that showcases floral and garden designs with global contributors competing for prizes. Lasting just one week, it was evident that participants took a lot of time to put together the exhibits, ranging from floral displays to the latest landscaping ideas to large fantasy gardens and back to plants displayed like bento boxes. There were giant twirling floral arrangements in the lake at the Gardens by the Bay and tons of garden gnomes in a rendition of the Secret Garden. This year’s event just ended so we’ll have to wait until 2018 for the next edition. Here are some photos from this year’s festival.

One of the international floral designs at the Floral Windows to the World display
One of the international floral designs at the Floral Windows to the World display and others below
One of the Floral Table Series and others below
One of the Floral Table Series and others below
Twirling flowers in the water
Twirling flowers in the water

One of my favourites was the Secret Garden display full of gnomes, pixies and colourful orchids.

Some of the Designer Gardens that were up for prizes. Some ideas were more familiar while others were unusual such as the sugarcane maze.

Designer gardens
Designer gardens
Designer garden - unique maze with sugarcane
Designer garden – unique maze with sugarcane
This one won the People's Favourite Award
This one won the People’s Favourite Award

Another crowd favourite were the Fantasy Gardens displays. The following was my favourite in this segment. It’s a shame we couldn’t walk in to immerse ourselves in the “garden”.

Shifting lights in the Fantasy Gardens section add to impact
Shifting lights in the Fantasy Gardens section add to impact

Other displays included a section of terrariums and one that featured useful tips on how to display plants. There was a series made to look like various Japanese cuisine. A community garden series saw one whimsical idea that incorporated a nursery rhyme into its “garden”. There were some unusual plans added to the Gardens and some luscious looking papaya trees.

Bento Plant display
Bento Plant display

It was a shame that rainy weather made it difficult to come out sooner for the event but it was good that the final Sunday morning was nice and sunny. However, much of it was in covered / tented sections with air-conditioning that provided nice respite from the heat. I’ll definitely look forward to the next event. In the meantime, the Orchid Extravaganza is ongoing at the Flower Dome in Gardens by the Bay, which is an extension of the Garden Festival.

A nice entry to the main Bayfront Plaza section of the event
A nice entry to the main Bayfront Plaza section of the event