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Singapore hide-away
 We decided to take a look south for this issue and set our
sights on our cosmopolitan neighbours in Singapore. The city state,
although small, holds a wondrous wealth of property and development
which are exemplary in terms of concept, design, function and
modernity. This issue’s Feature Garden encompasses all those things but
also retains a cosy charm and warm domestic atmosphere which can
sometimes be lost and forgotten when trying to achieve all these other
factors.
What
separates this garden from those we have seen recently in our glossy
pages is that it is a garden of maturity. 12 years in the making, the
garden in question takes the form of a medium-sized layout on a slight
hill of a quiet affluent neighbourhood. One of the first works of
well-known landscape architect Made Wijaya, this garden is a lovely
concoction of natural wildness and clearly designed garden space in the
Balinese resort style so representative of his style.
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The Ginger Garden, Singapore Botanic Gardens
 The Ginger order contains some of the most beautiful plants
in the world. Here in the 1-ha Ginger Garden, visitors will be treated
to a wide array of over 300 species and varieties of gingers and their
relatives.
Many
of these plants have surprisingly stunning leaves and attractive
flowers that come in many colours including vibrant reds and
yellows.Gingers are herbaceous perennials and many are important
ornamentals in the tropics and subtropics. The ginger, named after the
common spice, belongs to the family Zingiberaceae of about 1,200
species with the majority occurring in tropical Asia. Together
with 7 other closely related plant families, they are grouped into the
ginger order, the Zingiberales.
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Health & Beauty
 As I browse through pharmacies and sundry shops, I notice a
recurring pattern on all the major brands selling beauty products and
daily essentials. They all contain more or less the following
words; ‘organic’, ‘all natural’, ‘fruity’, ‘botanical’ and so on and so
forth. We keep looking back to nature for the best. We even use animal
expressions to relate to the best of the best like ‘heart of a lion’,
‘quick as a gazelle’ or ‘stink like a skunk’! We crave for products
containing natural ingredients (and that is why the manufacturers are
so keen in making products that would probably end up making them
millions).
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Guide to Tropical Foliage Plants
 Coleus
Known locally as ‘ati-ati’, the plant has attractive leaves
of various colours depending on the hybrids. It is rather difficult to
identify the species since there has been much hybridisation in
practice. This plant can be propagated via soft cutting in order to
obtain a good bush. The flowers should be deadheaded and in the initial
growth stage, the tips should be pruned to form side shoots.
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A Naturalist Garden
 Nature in the tropics will immediately bring to mind the
tropical jungle look with lush green, huge leafed plants such as
bananas and heliconias and giant caladiums. A naturalist garden in more
temperate areas will conjure random plantings of flowering plants in
meadows. According to Prof Chin’s “Gems in the Wild”, in our last
issue, we have a wealth of flowering plants that grow wild in our open
spaces and undergrowth, suitable for inclusion into the gardens.
The added advantage is that most of these plants have medicinal values.
The senduduk putih, (Melastoma imbricatum) though rarer than the common
purple ones has long been identified as a medicinal plant for women’s
ailments. Many others come to mind such as the periwinkle (Vinca rosea)
and also gingers.
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