The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a tropical garden located at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore. It is one of three gardens, and the only tropical garden, to be honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Botanic Gardens was founded at its present site in 1859 by the Agri-horticultural Society. It played a pivotal role in the region's rubber trade boom in the early twentieth century when its first scientific director, Henry Nicholas Ridley, headed research into the plant's cultivation. By perfecting the technique of rubber extraction, which is still in use today, and promoting its economic value to planters in the region, rubber output expanded rapidly. At its height in the 1920s, the Malayan peninsula cornered half of the global latex production.
The National Orchid Garden, which is located within the main gardens, is at the forefront of orchid studies and a pioneer in the cultivation of hybrids, complementing the nation's status as a major exporter of cut orchids. Aided by the equatorial climate, it houses the largest orchid collection of 1,200 species and 2,000 hybrids.
Soon after the nation's independence, Singapore Botanic Gardens' expertise helped to transform the island into a tropical "Garden City", an image and moniker for which the nation is widely known. In 1981, the hybrid climbing orchid, Vanda Miss Joaquim, was chosen as the country's national flower. Singapore's "orchid diplomacy" honours visiting head of states, dignitaries, and celebrities by naming its finest hybrids after them; these are displayed at its popular VIP Orchid Gardens.
More than 10,000 species of flora are spread over its area, which is stretched vertically; the longest distance between the northern and southern ends is . The gardens receive about 4.5 million visitors annually.
History
The first "Botanical and Experimental Garden" in Singapore was established in 1822 on Government Hill by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore and a keen naturalist. The Garden's main task was to evaluate cultivation crops which were of potential economic importance, including those yielding fruits, vegetables, spices and other raw materials. This first Garden closed in 1829.
It was not until 3 decades later that the present Singapore Botanic Gardens began in 1859, when the Singapore Agri-horticultural Society was granted 32 hectares of land in Tanglin by the colonial government, which had obtained it from the merchant Hoo Ah Kay, better known as Whampoa, in exchange for land at Boat Quay.
1859–1876 The new gardens started off functioning primarily as a “pleasure park” for the society's members. Lawrence Niven was hired as superintendent and landscape designer to turn what were essentially overgrown plantations and a tangle of virgin rainforest into a public park. He and his team worked on developing the Gardens to reflect the styles of the English Landscape Garden Movement. This included a series of “interconnecting pathways and promenades, a levelled parade area for military bands to play music... and the establishment of ornamental planting”.Chris Blandford Associates. (January 2014). Singapore Botanic Gardens – Candidate World Heritage Site Nomination Dossier. The layout of the Gardens as it is today is largely based on Niven's design. In 1866 the Gardens expanded in the Northwest direction by about 12 hectares. The excavation of Swan Lake took place in 1866. In 1868, the Burkill Hall was completed. The Singapore Agri-horticultural Society ran out of funds, which led to the colonial government taking over the management of the gardens in 1874. In 1875, the Raffles Library Committee selected a horticulturist, Henry James Murton, to serve as the first Superintendent of Gardens, while a zoology expert, William Krohn, was hired as the superintendent of the Zoological Garden to build up a collection of animals within the gardens, establishing the first zoo in Singapore. By 1877, the developed parts of the gardens were dotted with enclosures housing a collection of about 150 animals.
1877–1942 The first rubber seedlings came to the gardens from Kew Gardens in 1877. A naturalist, Henry Nicholas Ridley, or Mad Ridley as he was known, became the director of the gardens in 1888 and spearheaded rubber cultivation. Successful in his experiments with rubber planting, Ridley convinced planters across Malaya to adopt his methods. The results were astounding; Malaya became the world's number one producer and exporter of natural rubber.
In 1879, the Palm Valley was established on the site of the former Economic Garden. Nathaniel Cantley, who replaced Murton as the second Superintendent of Gardens in 1880, oversaw the building installation of Ridley Hall in 1882. Other installations included the Plant House, an arboretum in the former Economic Garden, and plant nurseries. Due to the high upkeep of the zoo at the gardens, in 1903, the colonial government decided to sell all the animals and birds and shut it down. More building installations at the garden included E.J.H Corner House in 1910 and Holttum Hall in 1921. This was also the period when Singapore's national flower, the orchid Hybrid Vanda Miss Joaquim, was founded, which was part of the achievement of the pioneering of orchid hybridisation by Professor Eric Holttum, director of the Gardens from 1925 to 1949. His techniques led to Singapore being one of the world's top centres of commercial orchid growing. Presently, it has the largest collection of tropical plant specimens.
1942–1945 During the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945, Hidezo Tanakadate (田中館秀三), a professor of geology from Tohoku Imperial University, learned of the possibility that the Gardens and Museum might be looted due to the occupation, and negotiated directly with general Tomoyuki Yamashita to gain control of the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Raffles Museum. At the beginning of the occupation, he ensured that no looting occurred in the Gardens and the Museum. Both institutions continued to function as scientific institutions. Holttum and Edred John Henry Corner were interned in the Gardens and instructed to continue their horticultural work. The Japanese government and army were unwilling to fund the institutions, however, and Tanakadate had to pay for maintenance and staff salaries from his own pocket. The Gardens was also renamed as Shōnan Botanic Gardens (). Tanaka returned to Japan in July 1943, and Dr. , a retired professor of botany from the Kyoto Imperial University and secretary-general of the Imperial Japanese Army's Malayan military administration department's general affairs department, was appointed director to the Gardens and Museum, posts he held until the end of the war.戸川幸夫『昭南島物語』下（讀賣新聞社、1990年）
1945–1986 After the war ended, the Gardens was handed back to the control of the British in September 1945, and Koriba was made a prisoner of war. Corner negotiated for Koriba's release with the British command, citing his contributions to protecting the Gardens, but he chose to remain in custody alongside his countrymen until his release in January 1946.戸川幸夫『昭南島物語』下、p.288（讀賣新聞社、1990年）
Murray Ross Henderson, curator of the Herbarium before the war, succeeded Holttum as director from 1949 to 1954. Eventually the Gardens played an important role during the "greening Singapore" campaign and Garden City campaign during the early independence years.
1986–present The Singapore Botanic Gardens was put under the charge of the National Parks Board. The Gardens was revitalised with new and improved public amenities, research facilities and training facilities (1990–2005). Here, the focus is on Garden City Vision, Horticulture, Taxonomic + Biodiversity Research, Recreation and Education.
A "Tyersall extension" to the Gardens was announced in 2009. A total of 18 hectares of land was added in expanding the Gardens by almost four times its original size in 1859. Known as the Gardens' Learning Forest when it was fully completed in 2018, the extensions included a Forest Conservation Interpretive Centre and a Natural History Art Gallery, housed in colonial buildings more than a century old. The Learning Forest showcases the best of tropical trees that grow under local conditions and strengthen the Botanic Gardens' position as a premier institute for research, conservation and education. Visitors are able to appreciate this collection of trees and plants through various thematic walks within the Learning Forest featuring giant trees, trees with interesting forms and barks of various textures, a conservation collection of rare fruit and nut species and a bamboo garden. Also included is a flood protection scheme for the main shopping district of Orchard Road and its surroundings and a water detention pond with capacity to hold excess storm-water of about 15 Olympic-size pools.
Attractions
The garden is bordered by Holland Road and Napier Road to the south, Cluny Road to the east, Tyersall Avenue and Cluny Park Road to the west and Bukit Timah Road to the north. The linear distance between the northern and southern ends is around . There are a number of entrances at different zones of the gardens, though the Tanglin Gate facing Holland Road in the south is the grand entrance.
National Orchid Garden
The National Orchid Garden is the main attraction within the Botanic Gardens. Located on the mid-western side of the Garden, the hilly three-hectare site has a collection of more than 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids of orchids.
There are a number of attractions within the Orchid Garden, including the following -
Burkill Hall: Burkill Hall is a colonial plantation bungalow built in 1886. It used to be the director's house and was named in honour of the only father and son pair to hold the post of Director of Singapore Botanic Gardens, Isaac and Humphrey Burkill. The ground level serves as an exhibition area, showcasing information on the different hybrids named after VIPs who have visited the garden.
VIP Orchid Garden: Located at the back of Burkill Hall, it displays hybrids of the most popular VIP orchids. Notable ones include Dendrobium Memoria Princess Diana, Dendrobium Margaret Thatcher, × Renantanda Akihito, Dendrobium Masako Kotaishi Hidenka, Dendrobium Elizabeth and Vanda Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. More than 100 celebrities, dignitaries, and visiting heads of states have been honoured by Singapore's orchid diplomacy program.
Orchidarium: The Orchidarium houses natural orchid species in a tropical setting.
Tan Hoon Siang Misthouse: Tan Hoon Siang was a descendant of Tan Tock Seng, who was a philanthropist and founder of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The misthouse contains a colourful collection of different hybrids. It also has a small collection of fragrant orchids like Vanda Mimi Palmer.
Lady Yuen-Peng McNeice Bromeliad House: Named in honour of its sponsor, the Bromeliad House showcases plants from the family Bromeliaceae, which includes the pineapple. The unique collection of bromeliads on display was acquired from Shelldance Nursery in the United States in 1994.
Coolhouse: The Coolhouse tries to recreate the environment of a tropical highland forest and showcases orchids that are normally only found in the tropical highland areas.
Rainforest