10/8 Singapore: Largest Orchid Garden in World!

Only one more day here so we decided to spend most of it in the Singapore Botanic Gardens (SBG) that were established in 1859. With over 4 million visits annually, the SBG are the most visited botanic gardens in the world and was Singapore's first nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We were able to hop on the MRT or subway a few blocks from our hotel in Little India and got off at the stop just beside the gardens so it couldn't have been any more convenient.

Called Old School Plants as they became popular house and landscaping plants in the 1970s-1980s due to their tolerance in shady areas. 

Cordyline Plants: In some parts of the world, they are thought to bring good luck. Not in Singapore though when they're normally found in graveyards!

More plants from the Foliage Garden:

Some seriously BIG leaves!

These looked like they'd been painted.

En route to the Orchid Garden:

Try and see the Greenwich Marker from 1914. 

This plant made me think of  birds in flight.

This sculpture of Chopin was presented by Poland in 2008 in memory of 'one of music's greatest poets.'

Suellen: Thought this skirt was a perfect choice for the Botanic Gardens!

Photos from the National Orchid Garden:

With over 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids the National Orchid Garden is the product of the orchid breeding program that began in 1928. The garden has the largest display of orchids in the world!

Janina and Pat: Have you seen anything like these before?

Photos from the VIP Orchid Garden:

The Orchid Gardens' Burkitt Hall was designed in the plantation style and is regarded as one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in Singapore in view of its sensitive design for mitigating the local climate. The steeply sloping pyramid style roof which extends far beyond its external walls to protect the core of the bungalow from the fierce heat of the sun and torrential rain.

The VIP Orchid Garden features orchid hybrids named after visiting state dignitaries and VIPs.

YES!!

The last of the photos from the VIP Garden.

Now onto the Orchidarium section of the Orchid Gardens:

We were literally both dripping with sweat here; I so wished I could cool myself off by jumping in the water!

We were so looking forward to entering the Mist House here and hoping to be cooled by the mist.

The Mist House had an absolutely fantastic collection of orchids but no mist, sad to say.

Saw a few people rub noses with the Buddha here so their friend/partner could then take a sideways shot. For some reason Steven just didn't feel like it!

Photos from the Bromeliad Collection:

Onto the Cool House:

In the Cool House a selection of plants are grown that are native to the mountains of SE Asia.

Pitcher Plants: These were some of the oddest and yet most captivating plants I've ever seen. The plants attract insects because of their striking color and nectar-secreting glands. Once the insects are inside, they are trapped because the plant's wall is very slippery with wax.

The Crane Fountain and therefore the last of the Orchid Garden! I hope you could tell by all these photos what a spectacular time we had traipsing through the stunning Orchid Garden. The flowers were all so striking and just breathtaking. 

The National Orchid Garden is just part of the National Botanic Gardens. Then we walked through much of the rest of the gardens.

Having fun catching our reflections in a mirror.

No I was NOT 'feeling the heat' that much! Steven and I had sat down to munch on some crackers when I noticed a fellow watering some nearby plants. I was not above dunking my head to cool off!

Photos of Curtain Ivy or Princess Vine:

This fascinating plant is not a true ivy but a close relative to the common grape. It drew my attention from pretty far away as I've never seen anything like it before.

A  curtain of roots.

Prisoners of War Brick Steps: The steps were built by  PoWs during the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1942-45. As a sign of defiance, most of the steps were imprinted with arrows to indicate the prisoners were detained by the authorities. At the 50th anniversary of the cessation of hostilities in August, 1995, 8 former Australian PoWs returned to see the indications of their defiance.

I admit to not ever having known that Singapore had been occupied by the Japanese and little, too, about WW11 outside of the European theater.

Very similar to the tree we'd seen yesterday in Fort Canning Park.

Wonder if concerts are held at this bandstand.

I found these Vanda Miss Joaquim plants, which were chosen as Singapore's national flower in 1981, very intriguing and fascinating. I read that these robust sun loving plants require heavy fertilizing to grow straight and tall as well as good air movement and high humidity. They were adopted as the Princess Aloha orchid in 1926 and incorporated into leis, the symbol of Hawaiian hospitality.

This sculpture is titled the Tree of Knowledge as 'the continuous stream of water connects the 2 figures and water represents knowledge.'

Had seeen Sealing Wax Palms throughout the gardens today but no sign about them til this point. Found out that they are native to the peat swamp forests of Sumatra, Borneo and the Malay Peninsula. This palm is the emblem of the Botanic Gardens.

We remarked how large these lily pads were.

Really liked this stone fountain pillar.

Walked through the Fragrant Garden and saw this Perfume Tree: Oil from this tree is widely used in perfumery for oriental or floral themed perfumes such as Joy and Chanel #5. It sure smelled a lot better than we did right then!

We've seen so much bamboo on our travels but neither of us realized til our visit here to Singapore's National Botanic Gardens that bamboos are giant grasses. Guess we never thought what they were but sure wouldn't have thought they were grasses!

If you had asked either of us when we entered the Singapore Botanic Gardens that we could possibly envision spending 5 hours there, we both would have said you were crazy. It turned out of course we were the crazy ones!  If you're a huge flower fan and have the time and money to visit this part of the world, I urge you to stop here.

Posted on 10/17 from Da Nang, Vietnam.