Old Photography : June 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Singapore Botanic Garden : National Orchid Garden (Selection)

Orchidarium: The haven for serious orchids enthusiasts. Only the natural species are on display here in a tropical setting.

Tan Hoon Siang Misthouse: Unknown to most people, Tan Hoon Siang was a descendant of Tan Tock Seng (founder of Tan Tock Seng Hospital and a philanthropist). The misthouse house contains a colourful collection of different hybrids. It also has a small collection of fragrant orchids like Vanda Mimi Plamer.

Lady Yuen-Peng McNeice Bromeliad House: Named in honour of its sponsor, the Bromeliad showcases plant from the Bromeliaceae family. Pineapple is a famous member of the bromeliad family. "The unique collection of bromeliads on display was acquired from Shelldance Nursery in the United States in 1994".

Coolhouse: The Cool House tries to recreate the environment of a tropical highland forest and so it showcases orchids that are normally only found in the tropical highland areas

Singapore Botanic Garden : National Orchid Garden (selection)

National Orchid Garden
The main attraction within the botanic gardens. Located on the mid-western side of the garden, the hilly three hectare site has a collection of more than 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids of orchids.
Within the orchid garden, there are a number of mini-attractions such as:
Burkill Hall & VIP Orchid Garden: Burkill Hall is a colonial plantation bungalow built in the year 1886. It used to be the Director’s House and was named in honour of the only father and son pair, Isaac and Humphrey Burkill, to hold the post of Director of Singapore Botanic Gardens. Currently the ground level serves as an exhibition area. It showcases information on the different hybrids named after VIPs who have visited the garden.
At the back of the Burkill Hall is the VIP Orchid Garden and here the real hybrids of some of the VIP orchids are on display. Some notable ones include: Dendrobium Margaret Thatcher, Renantanda Akihito, Dendrobium Masako Kotaishi Hidenka, Dendrobium Elizabeth, 'Vanda' Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Botanic Garden Selction ( Eco, Evo Jacob Garden)

Eco Lake -->

Evolution garden

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

The children's garden was named after its main donor the late Mr Jacob Ballas, a Jewish-Singaporean philanthropist who passed away in 2000.
Built at a cost of S$7 million (of which S$3 million was donated by the Jacob Ballas Trust and sponsors), it is located at the quiter Northern end of the botanic gardens. It has its own Visitor Centre with a cafe. It was opened on 1 October 2007 (Children's Day). NParks claimed it is Asia's first children's garden. There are play areas like the Water Play area, a small playground, tree-houses with slides, maze...etc. There are also interactive exhibits areas like teaching how photosynthesis work in a fun way, mini-garden that showcase different uses of plants like in making dyes, beverages or as herbs.
At the children's garden visitor centre stand an interesting wooden-looking sculpture by an Israeli sculptor Zodok Ben-David. Named "Mystree", it was commissioned by the Yad Vashem Museum (Holocaust Martyrs) in 2003. From a distance, the sculpture look like a tree but a closer look reveal 500 human figures forming the "tree".
Although it is part of the botanic garden, it has its own entrance along Bukit Timah Road (same entrance as the Bukit Timah Campus of the National University of Singapore).

Singapore Botanic garden revisit (selection)

Another achievement was the pioneering of orchid hybridisation by Professor Eric Holttum, director of the gardens from 1925 to 1949. His techniques led to Singapore being one of the world's top centres of commercial orchid growing. Today it also has the largest collection of tropical plant specimens.

During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945, Hidezo Tanakadate, a professor of geology from Tohoku Imperial University took over control of the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Raffles Museum. During his tenure at the beginning of the occupation, he ensured that no looting occurred in the Gardens and the museum. Both institutions continued to function as scientific institutions. Holttum and Edred John Henry Corner were interned in the Gardens and instructed to continue their horticultural work. The Gardens was also renamed as Shōnan Botanic Gardens (昭南植物園). Later that year, Dr Kwan Koriba, a retired professor of botany from the Imperial University of Tokyo, arrived as Director of the Gardens, a post he held until the end of the war.

After the war, the Gardens was handed back to the control of the British. Eventually it played an important role during the "greening Singapore" campaign and Garden City campaign during the early independence years.

Singapore Botanical garden revisit

Singapore Botanic Garden revisit

Some History...

The first "Botanical and Experimental Garden" in Singapore was established in 1822 on Government Hill at Fort Canning by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore and a keen naturalist. The Garden's main task was to evaluate for cultivation, crops which were of potential economic importance, including those yielding fruits, vegetables, spices and other raw materials. This first Garden closed in 1829.

It was not until 30 years later that the present Singapore Botanic Gardens began in 1859, when the Agri Horticultural Society was granted 32 hectares of land in Tanglin by the colonial government, which had obtained it from merchant Hoo Ah Kay or Whampoa, in exchange for land at Boat Quay.
Laurence Niven was hired as superintendent and landscape designer to turn what were essentially overgrown plantations and a tangle of virgin rainforest into a public park. The layout of the Gardens as it is today is largely based on Niven's design. The Agri Horticultural Society, however, ran out of funds and, in 1874, the colonial government took over the management of the Gardens.

The first rubber seedlings came to the gardens from Kew in 1877. A naturalist, Henry Nicholas Ridley, or Mad Ridley as he was known, became director of the gardens in 1878 and spearheaded rubber cultivation. Successful in his experiments with rubber planting, Ridley convinced planters across Malaya to adopt his methods. The results were astounding; Malaya became the world's number one producer and exporter of natural rubber