Singapore Garden Festival 2008

Last week, I was at the Singapore Garden Festival. After missing the first one in December 2006, I told myself that I should make an effort to view the one this year

When I reached Suntec City, there were already quite a number of people there – presumably after work, like me. I made my payments at the counter and after getting my ticket, I entered the exhibition hall.

And what I saw just floored me. There were heaps of beautiful sights in front of me. From photography of flowers, to the many landscapes and fantasy gardens from the different designers all over the world.

Here is one done by a China representative, with a very apt display for the Beijing Olympics. Not that much flowers are used in this display, making it looks more zen than garden-like.

Here is something kind of cool that we hardly see in real life because of our tropical climate. A lavender field! It seemed to go on and on and I desperately wanted to sit in the middle and just enjoy the beauty of it all. Too bad it was behind a glass and that visitors aren’t allowed to enter inside.

A Marilyn Monroe picture made of potted plants.

There were plentiful of displays there to be seen there but there were two displays in particular that moved me. One of them was this one which depicted the beautiful rural charm of China.

Personally, I think that this picture does not do it justice because when I saw it, I just had to stop for a while and just stand there for a few minutes. It was so serene and breathtaking. Just listening to the water flowing in the pond and the koi swimming made me feel so relaxed.

And here is the other side of the display. With the little details such as the tea cups and the wheat grinder, it brought out the charm and the authenticity, momentarily bringing me to rural China. It was so beautiful!

And another display which I loved heaps was this one entitled Glendalough by an American designer. Its gorgeous and I felt my heart sigh when looking at the display. How can anyone not?

To say that this looks charming would make it unjustified. This is what faerie tales are made of, with the greenery, the little pond and the stone toadstool and especially the little stone chapel. I love it!

There is a story of how the designer of this display was inspired by how easily nature can take away man’s ambitions and beautifully make it part of her own work.

It was said that the designer proposed to his then girlfriend in a place which looked like this in Glendalough, Ireland.

There is something about fresh flowers that makes me feel happy. My only issue about the event was that, whatever illusion I had being part of the display was quickly faded with the amount of people that visited there.

It’s hard to imagine being in Ireland with other people snapping around and posing! My other issue is that we could not touch or interact with the displays. I really would have loved to bury my face in the flowers or feel it next to my skin at the very least.

Regardless, I enjoyed myself tremendously. It was an evening well spent 🙂

Here is a quick video of two of the displays that I liked a lot :

Garden Festival 2008 from rinaz on Vimeo

Related Links :

• Singapore Garden Festival Official Website
• Garden Festival on Wikipedia