Interesting Green: The Man Who Planted Trees comes to Singapore (S’pore Garden Festival)

TODAY, Friday, 8 March 26, 2010, NEWS, PAGE 8
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by Wang Eng Eng

PHOTO: The young and the notso-young were all there yesterday to plant seedlings on the ‘Man’ (top). Singapore Garden Festival
TODAY, Friday, 8 March 26, 2010, NEWS, PAGE 8

Visitors to the Singapore Garden Festival this year are in for an added treat — they will be able to catch a glimpse of the Gardens by the Bay.

PHOTO: The young and the notso-young were all there yesterday to plant seedlings on the ‘Man’

A 100 square meter exhibition of the gardens will be on display at the festival when it opens in July.

The 101-hectare Gardens by the Bay are three distinctive waterfront gardens that will take shape in the heart of Marina Bay. Phase One is scheduled to open next year.

PHOTO: TODAY, Friday, 8 March 26, 2010, NEWS, PAGE 8

Meanwhile, as a prelude to the Garden Festival, about 400 people of all ages chipped in yesterday to plant seedlings onto a huge centerpiece.

PHOTO: TODAY, Friday, 8 March 26, 2010, NEWS, PAGE 8

Titled “The Man Who Planted Trees”, it is inspired by a French tale of a shepherd who transformed a barren valley into a Garden of Eden.

PHOTO: The Man Who Planted Trees, by Frédéric Back, is an allegorical tale about an individual sowing peace in the world, and the hope and happiness reaped by future generations. © 1987 Société Radio-Canada.
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The idea is to plant the five-meter-tall piece with 130,000 plants. It will then be transported to the festival at Suntec City.

Festival director Wong Wei Har said: “It mirrors what we are doing in Singapore. If everyone of us take ownership and do our part in taking the Garden City as our own, we can also recreate and keep the Garden City going and perhaps even stronger.”

Dr Wong said that everyone who planted a seedling will “remember planting this man and when you come in July, you will see all the plants fully grown”.

After the festival, the centerpiece will be located permanently at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Other new exhibits this year include balcony garden displays and miniature gardens.

Sixty community groups will also showcase their gardens.

By Wang Eng Eng

The festival will be held from July 15 to 22.
More information and ticket prices are available at www.singaporegardenfestival.com.

MYPAPER, FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2010, HOME, PAGE A4
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BY KOH CHUIN YING, cykoh@sph.com.sg

PHOTO: GARDEN FEST IS BACK: Seedlings were planted yesterday on festival centrepiece The Man Who Planted Trees at the Botanic Gardens.
(PHOTO: JAMIE KOH)
MYPAPER, FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2010, HOME, PAGE A4

Fewer tickets for S’pore Garden Festival

THE number of tickets for this year’s Singapore Garden Festival – an exhibition of garden displays and floral landscapes – will be capped at 300,000 to avoid visitor unhappiness from overcrowding.

Dr Wong Wei-Har, the festival’s director and general manager of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, said yesterday: “We want visitors to take their time and enjoy the show. If it is too crowded, people will not be able to see the displays properly.”

In 2008, more than 300,000 visitors attended the biennial event, up from the 200,000 at its 2006 debut.

Visitors had written to The Straits Times Interactive complaining about shutterbugs who shooed people away to take pictures of the displays.

PHOTO: TODAY, Friday, 8 March 26, 2010, NEWS, PAGE 8

To mark the festival’s return, over 400 Singaporeans and permanent residents from schools and community groups gathered yesterday at the Botanic Gardens to plant seedlings on the festival’s centerpiece – a 5m-tall display of a man holding a hoe, called The Man Who Planted Trees.

PHOTO: http://www.awn.com/files/imagepicker/1/singer02_ManWhoPlantedTrees.jpg

The seedlings will grow on organic coco fibre and compost over the next three months. The display is inspired by a French fable of a shepherd who set out to reforest a desolate valley in France. After more than 40 years, an entire forest was cultivated, in which more than 10,000 residents settled.

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Dr Wong said: “The Man Who Planted Trees pays tribute to local heroes who have contributed significantly to the ‘greening’ of Singapore.”

The display will be transplanted to Suntec City, where it will stand at the entrance to the festival venue.

After the event, it will be moved to its permanent home in the Botanic Gardens’ Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden, “to remind us all of our role in the ‘greening’ of our planet”, Dr Wong said.

New exhibits this year include a balcony-gardens display and a children’s rooftop garden that can be viewed only through a periscope.

The Singapore Orchid Show, a display of South-east Asia’s diverse heritage of orchids that has been a festival fixture since its debut, will return this year.

Tickets for adults cost $8 for weekdays and $12 for weekends, while those for children cost $5 for weekdays and $8 for weekends.

The festival runs from July 15-22.
For more information, visit www.singaporegardenfestival.com
BY KOH CHUIN YING, cykoh@sph.com.sg

PHOTO: http://images.travelpod.com/users/karana/1.1254134388.sue-under-the-orchid-arches-at-s-pore-botanic.jpg

PHOTO: The young and the notso-young were all there yesterday to plant seedlings on the ‘Man’ (top). Singapore Garden Festival
TODAY, Friday, 8 March 26, 2010, NEWS, PAGE 8

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