City

Singapore Garden Festival 2024

I never miss a Singapore Garden Festival and it is something I always look forward to. A biennial event, the Singapore Garden Festival is Singapore’s premiere garden and flower show and it brings together award-winning international and local designers, florists, and horticulturists in one venue.

Singapore Garden Festival 2024 offered an array of highlights, including Best of Show Designer Gardens and Floral Windows to the World, both which featured award-winning designers from around the globe. While the Balcony Gardens, and the Singapore Gardeners’ Cup competitions featured homegrown designers who put their creativity and talents on display.

Singapore Garden Festival 2024

There were two categories in this year’s Best of Show Designer Gardens, which included 12 Landscape Gardens and Fantasy Gardens. The Best of Show award for the former category went to Mark Cook and Emily Cook (USA) and Ban Nee Chen Pte Ltd, while the latter went to Leon Kluge (South Africa) and Tropic Planners & Landscape Pte Ltd (featured in main photo above). As an urban farmer, a landscape garden that I found highly memorable was Ann Teo’s landscape design garden titled ‘Engardening’, which included numerous herbs and fruiting plants.

Floral Windows to the World Championship, which showcases cut flower displays, had a live competition element this time round, where 16 floral designers from 16 countries put together their designs over three days. The grand champion for this year was Ahti Lyra from Estonia.

Other event highlights included Floral Table Top displays, a Landscape Design Challenge, Floral Harmony exhibits, the Floral Designers Society (Singapore) Cup and floristry demonstrations, talks and workshops.

Singapore Garden Festival 2024 Designer Gardens
Singapore Garden Festival 2024 best in show landscape garden
Singapore Garden Festival 2024 best in show landscape garden and gold winner
SGF 2024 Singapore
SGF 2024 Singapore Suntec Convention Centre
SGF Ann Teo Engaedening

For a front row view of the event, watch this video tour:

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City, Country

How to grow luffa from seed

Whether you wish to grow luffa to eat or to use as a loofah sponge, the great news is that luffa is an easy plant to grow. Personally I found it quite effortless to care for and I get a crop going every year so that I have enough sponges to last me for a while. In this blog post, I will teach you how to grow luffa from seed.

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City, Country

How to grow winter melons

Are you curious about how to grow winter melons? Last year I discovered how easy it is to grow them, I harvested more than 50 winter melons from one plant, weighing at least 6.2kg on average, or 310kg. While I experiencedd this success in the tropics, winter melon fares well in subtropical and temperate countries when grown during the hot summer months.

Winter melons, also known as wax gourds or ash gourds, come in several varieties, some have smooth dark skin, some are light green and are hairy; they can grow as heavy as 30kg. Once harvested, they can store for 6 months or more in a cool, dry place.

Read on to find out more about how you can grow them at home.

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Uncategorized

[2024] Sakura at Gardens by the Bay

It’s that time of the year to view sakura at Gardens by the Bay! For those of us in Singapore who are unable to visit Japan to experience it in person, this event is the next best thing. The theme for 2024 is Blossom into the night, and visitors can view it in daylight or after 7pm, the setting is perfect for Yozakura, or night sakura, when lanterns and light projections offer a different scenery for sakura appreciation.

In Japan, the Sakura festival is a celebration of Japan’s iconic cherry blossoms and the arrival of spring, a season of renewal and rebirth. As the sakura bloom, they symbolise the fleeting beauty of life and the importance of cherishing each moment. It is a reminder to pause, reflect, and appreciate the wonders of the natural world.

This year’s festival showcases more than 140 cherry blossom trees and features more than 40 varieties. Also part of the selection of blooms are  plum and peach blossom trees. Here are the highlights of Sakura: Blossom into the night.

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