SINGAPORE – A majestic Chinese banyan tree stood nearly 3m tall amid a vibrant tapestry of tropical plants, ferns and red-tinged bromeliads peeking through its canopy. Beneath its cascade of aerial roots was a lush carpet of vibrant pink slipper orchids, dark purple-green sonerilas, orange cannas and more.
“Fiesta”, a striking array of flora in the display that was created by a team called The Tropicans, was a celebration of meticulously chosen plants that can be found along the Earth’s tropical belt.
The show garden’s designers, Mr Bryan Lim, 23, Mr Aryan Chong, 19, and Mr Ng Jun Xiang, 19, are landscape design and horticulture diploma students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
Their garden was one of 10 entries in the Landscape Design Challenge (LDC), which was part of the 2024 edition of the Singapore Garden Festival that ended Aug 11.
The teams of three, comprising students from institutes of higher learning, were given around two months to prepare for the competition, from conceptualising their garden design to sourcing the appropriate plants.
On Aug 3, the day of the competition, they had only four hours to assemble a landscape show garden on a 3m x 3m plot, bringing to life the theme “Celebrating Tropical Nature”.
The gardens were judged on the design, choice of plants, how the students presented their concept, and the teamwork displayed.
To up the ante at this year’s challenge, each team was given a surprise plant on the day of the competition that had to be seamlessly integrated into its design. The gardens were also, for the first time, judged on presentation from all four sides, unlike the 270-degree view in previous years.
The competition was also held indoors at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre. Past challenges were held at Gardens by the Bay.
The location created a new challenge for the contestants, as they had to choose tropical plants that could survive air-conditioning.
“The choice must be correct, if not the plants may be ‘shocked’,” said Mr Lim, explaining that most flowering plants need to be maintained at certain temperatures.
His team took quite some time selecting the plants, as the leaves, colours and textures had to blend well “like a painting”. They even switched out their original ficus tree a month before the competition for a newer tree, as they had pruned it wrongly.
Even though his team did not win, Mr Lim, who was on the winning team at the 2018 LDC, said: “Winning is not everything. The experience is most important.”
Placing third was the team Grand Guardians of the Green for its garden, “Fragmented Realities: Nurture or Neglect?”, designed to illustrate the impact of deforestation.
It featured an archway made of branches and twigs: On one side was lush green “forest” that reached a height of around 2.5m, but visitors who stepped through the arch were met with a stark contrast of dried twigs and yellowing leaves strewn on the ground.
Students bring tropical fantasies to life at S’pore Garden Festival competition
