Singapore - THE second Singapore Garden Festival, which ended on Friday night, was a blooming success.
Some 300,000 people attended the eight-day event held at the Suntec Convention Centre, and about 30 per cent were overseas visitors.
The festival organised by the National Parks Board (NParks) is held once every two years.
The first one in 2006 attracted 200,000 visitors over a 10-day period. A shorter period works out better for the plants, as most of them are imported and designers have to take care they do not wilt.
This year`s festival featured 18 show gardens and 14 floral displays by 35 designers from 17 countries and some 40 orchid displays.
The international garden and flower show brings together top local and foreign award-winning landscape and garden designers, florists and horticulturists.
There was also a new component to the festival this year. A three-day expo was held at the same venue and about 300 delegates and 3,000 trade visitors attended the trade event.
NParks` chief executive officer, Mr Ng Lang, said at the garden`s appreciation party to thank designers and exhibitors on Friday night, that the overwhelming response to the event `gives us confidence to press on in our ambition to make the festival one of the best flower shows on the international calender`.
Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan, who was the guest of honour on Friday night, said that the festival is `now a key part of our strategy to transform Singapore into a city in a garden`.
He added that the festival will raise the standard of the landscaping and horiculture industry.
One lucky visitor became a part of history at the event. Ms Caslin Goo, 40, a tutor won the opportunity to have a new Nepenthes cultivar or pitcher plant named after her. Her name was picked from 6,000 entries in a lucky draw.
The Nepenthes Caslin Goo will be registered with the International Carnivorous Plant Society based in California.
The plant lover who grows orchids in her five-room HDB flat in Sengkang said she felt happy and lucky to have been picked.
The festival returns in 2010. By Tay Suan Chiang
Source: http://www.straitstimes.com (August 01, 2008)
