Some like it hot – myself included! I consider myself a tropical butterfly and love to flit around lush rainforests and sultry gardens brimming with exotic flowers and foliage. The Singapore Botanic Garden is a place of such equatorial beauty. It’s a historic garden, a place of scientific research and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Even if you can’t make it to Singapore Botanic Garden, I hope this virtual hothouse of flora brings a little duende to your day.
Singapore Botanic Gardens – a brief history
Sir Stamford Raffles, a British statesman and founder of modern Singapore, first proposed the idea of a national garden in 1822 and established the Botanical and Experimental Garden in Fort Canning. It wasn’t until 1859 that the present site began to be developed into the Singapore Botanic Garden it is today. The area was laid out in the style of the English Landscape Movement by an Agri-Horticultural society. They handed the garden over to the colonial British government in 1874, which saw it further developed by Kew-trained botanists.
During its infancy, the Botanic Garden was a place of significant agricultural research and development for Singapore. Horticulturists collected, grew, experimented and distributed plants that were deemed to be potentially useful. The Gardens made important contributions to scientific investigation and cultivation of rubber plants in Southeast Asia since 1875. Garden researchers also pioneered hybridization techniques for orchids since creating a breeding program in 1928.
Singapore Botanic Garden was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015. The Garden qualified on the basis that it demonstrates how a colonial British tropical garden that was created for pleasure, evolved into a modern scientific institution that contributes to research, conservation and education.
Plan a trip to Singapore Botanic Garden
- A nature-lover could easily spend an entire day in this tropical Eden, but I advise you to go early or late, to avoid the most intense tropical heat.
- Singapore Botanic Gardens are located at 1 Cluny Road, Singapore and is open from 5:00am to midnight daily.
- Below is an overall map of the Garden, and there are various more specialized maps available here on the Botanic Garden website.
- You will find the schedule of monthly guided tours, which include nature sketching, on their website.
- Singapore Botanic Garden is free to enter.
- The National Orchid Garden (located within the Botanic Garden) is open from 8:30am to 7:00pm and has a small entrance fee of SGD5 for adults, SGD1 for students and seniors (60+) and is free for children under 12 years.
Singapore Botanic Garden is by no means the only fabulous green space in this city-state, for more garden goodness, check out my 5 reasons to visit Gardens by the Bay. Do you like to explore gardens on your travels? Tell us your favourites in the comments below.
Peace, love & inspiring travel,
Madam ZoZo