To quote the contents of the brochure ,which we'd picked up from the HortPark information counter at the entrance,
"HortPark is a one-stop gardening hub that brings together gardening-related recreational, educational, research and retail activities under one big canopy in a park setting. It is a knowledge hub for plants and gardening and provides the platform for the industry to share best practises and showcases garden designs, products and services."
By the way, the HortPark is very near to my office, around 10 minutes walk. Whenever we go to Anchorpoint for lunch, the bus would passed by the HortPark entrance and it didn't cross my mind that beyond the entrance is a road leading to a 23 hectare sized park with a variety of theme gardens and beautiful flowers.
As I'm always seeking out for new places to explore in Singapore, I've been wanting to visit HortPark and this weekend, we finally did!
From the HortCentre- another name for the "front office" or "information counter"- the view is deceptive because there are more to see beyond the water feature and a couple of trees.
Before we proceed to the heart of the park, we took a stroll on the other side of the HortCentre, that's leading towards the Alexandra Arch, just to check out if there's anything interesting over that side. Anyway, we didn't cross the Alexandra Arch because it seems like a long walk and we would prefer to take a walk within those theme gardens.
I really like this feature- The Home Garden. It' s a cosy little corner that's supposedly akin to a garden in at home. The Home Garden "shows home owners how they can make use of the space constraints within their gardens to plan and creatively plant impressive displays of various plant habits, forms, colours and textures."
Unfortunately, majority of Singaporeans stay in HDB flats or private apartments, so can only come to HortPark's Home Garden to fantasise all these garden dreams......
It takes a lot of effort to maintain a garden and I'm no green fingers. I don't even have potted plants decorating our main entrance cos I know they might just wither on me. Gardening isn't my thing (the other one would be rearing fish as pets cos they always die within a week and I have no idea why when I'd thought I'd fed them well..maybe TOO well?) so I never bothered to get any plants though I like to look at them.
I do have dreams of having a garden of my own and living in one of those English-style cottages but that's when I'm still a kiddo and cottages seem like really neat places to stay in. Obviously there're no cottages in Singapore, so the closest I can get to relive this dream would be staying in one of those terrace houses.
Well, this dream will never materialise because firstly, such houses would be pricey and secondly, I don't like to stay in big houses or anything that's double-storey cos I have a chicken-heart and would freak out if I'm all alone at home, especially when my hubby goes on travel. There you go, we would stay in an apartment for the rest of our lives.
After the House Garden, we went to check out the rest of the themed gardens.
This little plot of a garden is named "Lias's Babies". Sounds like the title of a horror movie where "Lia" is a deranged chick who had lost her baby or babies and later on, her marbles so she keeps a garden with a cot in the middle and plants growing out of baby strollers, and whoever who'd ventured into her garden would be beheaded by her garden shears so that their blood would feed the demonic soul of her garden........Muahahahaha!!
Well well, other than the cot in the middle and the plants growing out of the baby strollers, "Lia's Babies" is actually a neat little garden that showcases "landscape that can be nurtured." The plants in the cot are actually seedlings. The reason they're in a cot is to bring across the message that they are like babies that require tender care. Oh and "Lia" stands for "Landscape Industrial Association".
You can actually sit in the centre of the Bamboo Labyrinth to self reflect and indulge in all those zen-nish thoughts like searching for your inner peace and meditation.
I would do that if the ground isn't so dirty and the Bamboo Labyrinth is like, faraway in some isolated corner. When we were inside, I'd seen a couple trying to take a picture and boisterous kids screeching their heads off while playing catch among the bamboo stems.
Instead of searching for inner peace and serenity, perhaps a test on one's tolerance level before he/she went bonkers and strangles those pesky and noisy kids?
The "Fantasy Garden" takes on the "The Wizard of Oz" theme, with the main characters like the Lion, Tin Man, Scarecrow and the Bad Witch among a variety of plants and flowers. This should be cute but they made the characters look too creepy.
Poor Dorothy has a stack of pots for a body, wild grass as hair and a dirty glove as her hand. Oh dear.........
I think I'd mentioned in one of my older entries that I like to look at plants and flowers. I think the interest started from my late granny. She used to have lots of potted plants and flowers in her backyard, all of them were under her good and dedicated care. One of my favourite activities was to watch her do her gardening but unfortunately, I never learnt any of these gardening skills from her. I guess, to some extent, looking at these plants and flowers in a garden setting, reminds me of her.
The HortPark is actually a pretty relaxing place to sit down, read a book or basically just chill. The only gripe is the humid weather of Singapore makes it hard to do all that. Plus the mosquitos!! I'd gotten a few bites from these blood suckers!
I have never seen a greenhouse before......
There are a total of 6 greenhouses in the park.
The flowers grown in these greenhouses are GORGEOUS!!
On our way back to the car park, we'd passed by the Sky Garden- an innovative way to grow your plants, that is, vertically. Very apt for a space contraint and limited land country like Singapore.
The HortPark experience was a good one. I'd a great time taking a stroll and admiring the beautiful flowers. It's also a chance to relive my dream of having a garden without having an actual garden. I would definitely come back here again.
Had took some pictures of those flowers that caught my eye.........Unfortunately, I don't know the names of some of them.
Here you go.........
This pink and white flower that looks like a million tendrils had exploded from the centre is the Rain Tree flower which I'd managed to take a shot of this flower from one of the low hanging branches. When I was a kid, I used to think the Rain Tree flower is the most beautiful flower ever sprouted from a tree, and I can never have a close-up view of these flowers unless they'd dropped off from the tree.
Bouganvillas are so common along the expressways, in the neighbourhood parks and sometimes along the roads in the city, that I never realised how beautiful they can be when these Bouganvilla shrubs with different flower colours (red, pink and purple) are placed together.
I think these yellow flowers are 'daisies'? Sweet and simple.
The orchid is our National Flower. Ever elegant and regal......
I think these are honeysuckles? All I know is they exudes a sweet fragrance.
I think this is another type of honeysuckle but purple coloured?
Dunno the name of these purple flowers but I like the white outlines on edge of the petals. A good contrast to the bright purple.
The alternate red and white colours of this flower reminds me of the Strawberry and Cream
Lollypop.
My favourite so far, is this really sweet and delicate looking flower or should I say a bunch of tiny flowers framed by another bunch of tiny flowers?
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