Monthly Archives: August 2009

Visitors to GardenTech 2009 at HortPark would have noticed the impressive and beautiful archway adorned with various succulent species that greeted everyone as they entered the passageway that brought one to the stalls of the garden fair. This spectacle was the result of the hard work that was put in by my fellow colleagues from the Hort Standards and Hort Management teams.

The observant visitor would have noticed an unique way decorating this archway – on both sides, as well as, the top panel of the archway, there were boxes where pots of succulents were sloted into. The side panels mainly employed succulents that were relatively flat and short in stature whereas those on the overhang consisted of species with a trailing habit to give a curtain-like feel.

As one enters the passageway, he/she would have noticed that succulents were still the main group of plants used for decor. Trailing vines of Senecio macroglossus ‘Variegatus’ helped to soften the hard and cold look of steel bars and supports that make up the tentage.

Two other trailing succulents which included Burrito’s Tail Sedum (Sedum burrito) and String of Beads (Senecio rowleyanus) lined two sides of the passageway which conferred a ‘wall’ effect. Hanging pots of Petunia x hybrida, the only non-succulent plant, hung overhead the passageway punctuated the decor by adding splashes of pink.

In this year’s GardenTech, I am fortunate to be able to invite Mr Anson Low who is the principal of the prestigious Nobleman School of Floral Design and Mr Linus Loh from Seeds by K & L to come to HortPark to put up a special floristic showcase that is quite unlike those we usually see.

When it comes to flower arrangements, most people would think it just involves putting various colourful flowers together. For a little variation, a variety of fruits can be added to get a fruit and flower basket. Not many of us would think of using edible underground plant parts, like tubers, rhizomes, bulbs, taproots and corms in flower arrangements.

The team lead by Anson and Linus did just that. In conjunction with the geophytic plants showcase at the Lifestyle Corner at HortPark, the duo and friends used various commonly encountered food geophytic plant parts for their floristic arrangements.

On Sunday (16 Aug 09), visitors to HortPark were treated to a demonstration by Anson himself where he showed everyone how easily one can put a flower arrangement together. Many participants of the session were surprised by the creativity of Anson. He then helped to conduct a guided tour where he shared with his audience the concept he has behind each arrangement that was displayed in the showflat.

Visitors to HortPark during GardenTech 2009 would be able to see how carrots can be strung up to make a vase which one can stick orchids into it.

Rhizomes of the cooking ginger and turmeric are usually stored away from sight at home. Anson and Linus gave us a fine example of how we can make a pleasing arrangement for the dinner table by using these rhizomes. They laid a bed of cooking gingers at the base and then randhomly stuck turmeric rhizomes onto the former using toothpicks. To add colour to this arrangement, single blooms of a yellow Cymbidium orchid were used and were fed via a test tube of water. 

Bulbs such as those of the onion, garlic and edible lily can also be used to complement flower arrangements. Onions and garlic, which are both tunicated bulbs, were laid as a carpet at the base of two flower arrangements. On the same note, my team exercised a little bit of our creativity by making a circle using dried edible lily bulb scales and fresh bulbs around one of the flower arrangements done by Anson and Linus.

Corms like cocoyams, stem tubers such as potatoes and root tubers of the sweet potato can also be used to complement our usual floristic creations as shown in the picture above. It is important to choose intact and undamaged geophytic plant parts for such work so that they look good and not emit a foul smell over time.

GardenTech 2009 is one event that was different for me. I first participated in this event back in 2007 as a member of a representative of a local gardening interest group, Green Culture Singapore. This year, I put on the uniform of HortPark – the Gardening Hub in the capacity of a staff member of the National Parks Board (NParks). Roles have changed but the vision in me did not. I am still very much interested to spread the gardening interest to all Singaporeans.

Shortly after making my way back to HortPark from the TV appearance on Channel 5 on 14 Aug 09 (Friday), I delivered my first gardening talk entitled “Success with High Rise Gardening” for GardenTech 2009. The talk was held at the Lab in HortPark’s Hands-on-House. The venue was filled to its brim and many participants had to stand through the session. I am astonished with the turnout as I never expect such a crowd on a weekday Friday. 

Right after the gardening talk, I went on to conduct the terrarium workshop in the Lab where members of public register themselves earlier so as to be able to make their own bottle gardens. The turnout of this workshop also reached full capacity! A large majority of the participants were new faces whom I have never met in any of my previous gardening talks.

On top of the terrarium workshop and gardening talk, my Hort Outreach team members also conducted guided tours to show visitors around the Lifestyle Corner at the Hort Center. This month’s theme is edible geophytic plants and one will be able to learn more about taproots, bulbs, corms, stem and root tubers and rhizomes that are used in food and medicine. We also invited two floral designers to put up a special showcase just for GardenTech 2009 that uses these geophytic vegetables in their floral arrangements.

On Sunday (16 Aug 09) afternoon, I conducted my second gardening talk entitled “Learn How to Grow Your Culinary Herbs” which was held at the Fruit Room located at the basement of the Hort Center. Unlike the first gardening talk, the turnout of this talk was even more overwhelming. For the first time, Fruit Room was overflowing with people and my colleagues told me that it was impossible to get in from outside and also impossible to get out once someone is inside the room! Perhaps it was a Sunday which explained why there was such a good turnout.

To date, that was my first talk on how to grow culinary herbs where I shared my experience on how to grow a range of Mediterranean herbs. Many Singaporeans thought it would be impossible to grow these herbs. My experience that was gained through much trial and error and exchange of experience with likeminded friends had proved that otherwise. With the right soil mix and growing conditions, these foreign aromatic plants can actually be grown here.

In conclusion, I hope my gardening talks had been informative and tips shared been useful to all participants who braved the heat and journey to arrive at HortPark to listen to me. My most sincere thanks go out to you. I also hope that your visit to GardenTech 2009 had been enjoyable and fruitful too.

Besides being involved in putting up the Hort Gallery at the Hort Excellence booth, I was also involved in decorating the stage for the GardenTech 2009 Networking Night as well as Opening Ceremony. Both are rather high profile events that will be witnessed by numerous industry partners, internal staff as well as VIPs. This task was my first and is a daunting one as it must be one that will impress. Thankfully with the guidance given by my superior, my team at Hort Outreach managed to get the job done on time.

My team reasoned that we want to put something that is natural-looking, simple and elegant and yet different from all previous stage decorations. With some brainstorming and trail and error, together, we decided to select only five species of plants to dress up the stage. The colour scheme for the event was black.

The Networking Night function as its name suggests, will take place in the evening where the surroundings will be dark. Instead of choosing plants with colourful flowers that may be hard see, we chose two aroid species with dark foliage that is uniquely shaped, such as Anthurium ‘Arrow’ and Anthurium ‘Renaissance’ so as to confer a mysterious feel to the decor at night and yet also look good in the day.

To punctuate the decor, we selected another aroid, that is a cultivar of Spathiphyllum wallisii which will have strikingly white sail-like inflorescences that will appear to float in the air as they contrast against the rather dark background at night. Branches painted silver which are adorned with silver coloured Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) are put up upright at random intervals. Instead of employing the usual wooden lawn edging, the base of the decor was completed using natural tree branches with club moss (Selaginella species) popping out randomly to simulate the look of the tropical rainforest floor.

The spiral staircase located near the stage at the Hort Gallery was also dressed up with a similar design so as to have a sense of continuity and uniformity. Anthurium ‘Renaissance’ took centerstage while several Anthurium ‘Arrow’ were used to form a ring around it. Variegated club moss with a trailing habit were allowed to spill over the edge of the pedestal-like structure. The red and striking pinecone-like inflorescence of the Indonesian Wax Ginger (Tapeinochilus ananassae) were included to add colour to the arrangement and to give the sense of energy.

Here, we wanted to have an arrangement that can be likened to a pot that overflows with wealth and energy. We hope that GardenTech 2009 would be an event that all participating vendors find fruitful for their businesses and plant enthusiasts be inspired once more to pursue their gardening hobby.

 GardenTech 2009, a garden fair which takes place every other year in HortPark, will commence on 14 Aug 2009 and that means we are just only four days away! The tentages were erected not too long ago and the setting up of my division’s booth now begin. The Hort Excellence booth team consisting of Pearl Ho, Keneric Ng and myself brainstormed earlier to come up with a design that will be put up in the 3 m x 2m space that was allocated to us.

The division which I worked in the National Parks Board (NParks) is known as the Hort Excellence division and we will be presenting to visitors of GardenTech 2009 the ‘Hort Gallery’. The Hort Gallery aims to showcase new plant introductions to the realm of landscape and horticulture in Singapore. The visitor will expect to see some new species and cultivars of plants not commonly or never seen locally. The poster found in the show catalogue was designed by a fellow colleague, Joyce Foo.

The display showcases some plants taken from our own plant collection that were obtained via various overseas plant-sourcing trips.  We were also fortunate to be able to put forth a more varied and interesting range of plants via the help conferred to us by various friends in the gardening fraternity.  

They include Mr Tan Jiew Hoe, Mr Linus Loh and Mr Tan Eng Ong who lent us a range of ornamental plants which range from aroids, ornamental bananas to flowering gesneriads. Two partners from the landscape industry, namely, HortMart by Far East Flora sponsored us a pair of 1 m tall olive trees and Terrascapes lent us a terrarium of sundews.

Besides plants, visitors to the Hort Excellence booth will be treated to a demonstration of using coconut leaf weaving conducted by one of our veteran staff members, Mr Rahim. He will show visitors how to turn the strips of coconut leaves into birds and crabs. One can also learn the art of making ‘ketupats’ which is a way of wrapping rice dumplings that is unique to the Malays.