Singapore Garden Festival 2016 at Gardens by the Bay

For 9 days, the biennial event of fascinating floral and garden creations, Singapore Garden Festival (SGF), was held at the Gardens by the Bay from 23 to 31 July 2016. Known to be one of the top floral exhibitions in the world, the flower and nature lover me would definitely not miss it!

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. 

There are seven million. The future belongs to the curious.

There were the landscape and fantasy gardens, and interesting concepts to transform your own balconies into a garden retreat. It was a sight to visit and explore the concepts on display.

I could seriously lie on the daybed for the whole day, given a setting like this!

Photography starts young...

And photography continues as we carry on with life....

Spot the busy bee!

The tiny bee amidst the giant bees~

There were exhibitions such as the World of Terrariums, where stunning terrarium displays were presented to the event-goers. I have always wanted to try doing my own terrarium, but have not done one up till now... Though I have done an Eco-planter previously during the Philosophy event (Click [HERE] if you would like to read about it)

And if you thought the SGF would be a full outdoor event, it was not. There were air-conditioned exhibition tents scattered around the event grounds. I wandered into a bonsai competition cum exhibition. You know how bonsai and its art of it is always associated to the elderly, but boy, I was totally WOW-ED by what I saw. See the following pictures of some of the bonsai masterpieces on display. The commitment, creativity and effort is commendable!

Chinese wordings made of bonsai plants!!!

Was my imagination too wild...

Or did the bonsai owner made the trunk to look like a money hugging a tree trunk on purpose?

Framed the photo in this way.

'Seek your treasure' and have your eyes to wander upwards in the photo, and there it was, the Marina Bay Financial Centre area, where many financial institutions are located.

I have always been intrigued by carnivorous plants since young.

There were plenty of orchids displayed throughout the SGF. But one notable event highlight was the Orchid Extravaganza, that was held at the Flower Dome where more than 10,000 orchid plants were on display. One fact I learnt from the event was that there are more orchid species in the world than the number of bird or mammal species!

Other than garden and landscape displays, the exhibition showcasing floral table designs serve as an inspiration for those who prefer floral table arrangements. In the photo below, I was posing in front one of the exhibits by the designer, Nina Chen. It was named as Cocoon to signify the departure and evolution, and Nina shared her heartwarming story that served as the reason behind her design.

The Floral Windows to the World exhibition celebrated the creativity and artistic flair of local and international floral designers. It was here where I probably spent most of my time at, as I was spellbound by the intricate and exquisite creations, and how some seemed to be defying gravity. I was also mesmerized by the thought of the possibility of being transported to another dimension, through the brilliant use of angles and lighting.

My Outfit of the Day! #OOTD

To enter into the other dimension, maybe? ;)

Simply magical~

As I reached the SGF event slightly before noon, you can only imagine how hot and sunny it was! I became tanner, and my skin kind of peeled as well. Thank goodness, I had my umbrella with me, and I used it as a prop, whenever I could, haha.

Winter Wonderland display of my lovely rabbits and penguins

The Venus Flytrap, another carnivorous plant species.

Which by the way, can devour frogs and mice in the wild!

PETAI - Indeed an all-time favorite! My favorite!

One impressive exhibition was the floral arrangement by school-going kids and teenagers. I had fun admiring the floral arrangements by the kids, some as young as Primary One! In the moment of simply admiring their incredible works and gushing out loud, I forgot to snap photos of some of the awesome displays. But those of you who have seen their work, you would agree on how creative and artistic these kids are! There was also a live floral arrangement demonstration on-stage by several lower-primary kids from Nanyang Primary School, and their floral arrangements looked so beautiful and professional. In fact, all the exhibits by these kids looked so professionally-done, you would have thought they were done by professional adult florists!

Being someone who is rather participative and likes learning/trying out new things, I jumped on the chance to learn how to make some floral handicrafts from the students who were manning the ITE Florist booth at SGF. I learnt how to create a sword, whip and rose out of coconut leaves!

Thanks to Sammi from ITE AMK for her patience and guidance, and fun conversation.

Everyone can Garden, Everyone can Weave!

There were the Marketplace where retail booths for plant and flower lovers to purchase seeds or plants/flowers. There were floral tea booths where I tried some interesting tea flavors. What caught my eyes were the painted pebbles, of which some were painted in the design of my favorite... Penguin! But I didn't purchase it, cos I thought, it made a good DIY project idea for myself (if I ever have the time, that is, haha!).

After walking for about 5 hours, my tummy was growling with hunger. So it was a pitstop for lunch at the Dining in the Garden City tent where different types of cuisines await the foodies in us. I had the 'Oink Oink Burger' which was a soft homemade pita filled with veggies, several sauces, and Philippines roasted pig shredded meat. It was delicious and was going for only S$7. Kudos to the Dining in the Garden City/drink stall  committee team for having reasonably-priced drinks. The can drinks were only at S$2 each. Some 'hipster-ish' events that I ever been to priced their drinks at S$4! Anyway, I was so thirsty, I had 2 cans of drinks with the yummy pork burger.

No Angry Birds slingshot nevermind... 

How cool a giant slingshot is instead!

I completed the SGF walk by 5pm, and off I went to the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest for the evening. Photos of these two places will be up another day, in another blogpost. Till then, thanks for viewing my article and hope you enjoyed reading it. :)