Singapore Garden Festival returns in August
The ninth edition of the Singapore Garden Festival (SGF) is set to return in August. Organised by National Parks Board (NParks), it will be held at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre from Aug 3 to 11, 2024, and features award-winning designers from around the world.
The biennial festival coincides with the Global Botanic Gardens Congress, organised by the Singapore Botanic Gardens and Botanic Gardens Conservation International, which will run from Aug 6 to 9 at the Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The congress is being held for the first time in South-east Asia.
Held every three or four years, it includes internationally renowned speakers and sessions about key activities of botanic gardens in species conservation, research, education and outreach, and more.
The garden festival will present landscape and floral creations from award-winning international and local designers, community gardeners and plant enthusiasts.
To kick things off, the festival’s prelude event will be held from March 14 to 17 at Takashimaya Square to give the public a glimpse of the floral displays and programmes that will be on show. Admission is free.
Visitors can enjoy the 24 floral displays by florists from the Ikebana International Singapore Chapter 135, which incorporate fresh vegetables including cauliflower, chilli and pandan.
Ikebana is the Japanese craft of flower arrangement.
An orchid display featuring various celebrity and heritage orchids will be showcased at the event.
These include Dendrobium hybrids named after South Korean actor Bae Yong Jun, former tennis star Serena Williams, and singer Stephanie Sun , as well as heritage orchid Aranda Grandeur which has impressive large blooms with pink-coloured shading.
On March 15, during the prelude event, participants at the Floral Fiesta live competition will create masterpieces from an assortment of flowers.
Visitors can also attend floral demonstrations and talks to learn more about flowers and how to grow them.
Discounted tickets to the festival will be sold at the event.
Mr Dennis Lim, coordinating director of Festivals, Events and Exhibitions at NParks, said: “We look forward to welcoming local and international visitors at the first full-scale SGF post-pandemic and introducing an exciting new competition format through the Floral Windows to the World Championship.”
As part of festival, different competitions will be held.
The Floral Windows to the World Championship, which features colourful and creative window installations, will feature a live competition element for the first time.
A total of 18 international floral designers representing 18 countries will compete for the title of Grand Champion by executing six tasks, in front of live audiences, over three days. These tasks will culminate in a showdown between five finalists.
The Best of Show Designer Gardens competition will feature 12 gardens, where designers will be paired with partners in Singapore to execute their display.
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