Ho! Ho! Ho! HortPark Christmas 2009 was an event organised by my colleagues from HortPark to spread the Christmas cheer on 20 Dec 2009. Singapore finally had its long-awaited, first bazaar dedicated to gardening hobbyists. It was a rainy afternoon and that did not deter gardeners from all over the island to come to HortPark.
Christmas shopping ranked high on the agenda of gardening enthusiasts as they trawled through the 20 participating stalls for interesting plants and offers throughout the 4-hour gardening bazaar held at the Exhibition Gallery in HortPark. Motivated by the good response and positive sales, many of the vendors have expressed their continued support in subsequent Gardening Bazaars to be held at HortPark. The next one will be held in Jan 2010 and every alternate (odd) month thenafter.
I saw several members from the Green Culture Singapore discussion forum putting up stalls to sell their plants. TALOS was there with his range of begonias and carnivorous plants and greenhorn sold his collection of airplants. A few others formed groups to sell collector’s orchids and a multitude of plants, cuttings and seedlings from their gardens. The youngest participant for the bazaar was an enterprising 12-year-old boy named Bram Lim, who roped in his little brothers to peddle his home-grown plants. Talk about a bright green future (see picture above)!
Other activities for the day included the “Christmas in a Bottle” terrarium workshop and a talk on “How to Grow Your Own Culinary Herbs” conducted by myself, attendance was overwhelming despite the downpour. The celebration would not have been complete without Santa Claus, who came by to extend his greetings to all who were at HortPark that day.
