Attractions

National Orchid Garden

Burkill Hall & VIP Orchid Garden: Burkill Hall is a colonial plantation bungalow built in the year 1886. It used to be the Director’s House and was named in honour of the only father and son pair, Isaac and Humphrey Burkill, to hold the post of Director of Singapore Botanic Gardens. Currently the ground level serves as an exhibition area. It showcases information on the different hybrids named after VIPs who have visited the garden.

At the back of the Burkill Hall is the VIP Orchid Garden and here the real hybrids of some of the VIP orchids are on display. Some notable ones include: Dendrobium Margaret Thatcher, Renantanda Akihito, Dendrobium Masako Kotaishi Hidenka, Dendrobium Elizabeth.

Orchidarium: The haven for serious orchids enthusiasts. Only the natural species are on display here in a tropical setting.

Tan Hoon Siang Misthouse: Unknown to most people, Tan Hoon Siang was a descendant of Tan Tock Seng (founder of Tan Tock Seng Hospital and a philanthropist). The misthouse house a colourful collection of different hybrids. It also has a small collection of fragrant orchids like Vanda Mimi Plamer.

Lady Yuen-Peng McNeice Bromeliad House: Named in honour of its sponsor, the Bromeliad showcases plant from the Bromeliaceae family. Pineapple is a famous member of the bromeliad family. "The unique collection of bromeliads on display was acquired from Shelldance Nursery in the United States in 1994".

Coolhouse: The Cool House tries to recreate the environment of a tropical highland forest and so it showcases orchids that are normally only found in the tropical highland areas.

Rainforest

The Singapore Botanic Gardens has a small tropical rainforest, of around six hectares in size, which is older than the gardens itself. The Botanic Gardens' rainforest and its bigger cousin at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve are located well within the Singapore's city limits. Singapore is one of the only two major cities with a tropical rainforest within its city limits - The other is Rio de Janeiro's Tijuca Forest.

Evolution Garden

A new attraction at the botanic garden is the 1.5-hectare Evolution Garden, located within the Central Core. The Evolution Garden tells the evolution story of plant life on Earth throughout the ages.

Ginger Garden

Located next to the National Orchid Garden, this one hectare garden lumps together the collection of members of the family Zingiberaceae. The garden houses a restaurant (Halia Restaurant). There is also a drop-off point along Tyersall Avenue as well as a waterfall. The garden was officially opened in 2003 and it took over the spot vacated by the previous Orchid Enclosure.

Botany Centre and Tanglin Gate

The recently re-opened Tanglin Gate was given a new look. Gone was the old cast iron gate, it now sports a more modern sliver colour with a leaf motif as its main design.

The 2 new blocks of offices and classroom in the upgraded Tanglin Core were known as the Botany Centre. It houses the:

The corridors and walkways of the Botany Centre were covered by leaf imprint. And there are also a number of wooden craving that littered the ground. There are also fern covered vertical walls.

The Green Pavilion is the first "green roof" in Singapore. Weed-like or grass-like plants fully covered the pitched roof. It houses the visitor services desk as well as the foodcourt (Taman Serasi Food Garden) at its basement.

The offices of former directors namely Holttum Hall (named after Eric Holttum, Director of the Gardens from 1925 - 1949) and Ridley Hall (after Henry Nicholas Ridley, first director of Gardens from 1888 - 1911) were preserved and now serve as the Singapore Botanic Gardens' Directorate and Visitor Management & Rangers offices.

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

The children's garden was named after its main donor the late Mr Jacob Ballas, a Jewish-Singaporean philanthropist who passed away in 2000.

Built at a cost of S$7 million (of which S$3 million was donated by the Jacob Ballas Trust and sponsors), it is located at the quiter Northern end of the botanic gardens. It has its own Visitor Centre with a cafe. It was opened on 1 October 2007 (Children's Day). NParks claimed it is Asia's first children's garden. There are play areas like the Water Play area, a small playground, tree-houses with slides, maze...etc. There are also interactive exhibits areas like teaching how photosynthesis work in a fun way, mini-garden that showcase different uses of plants like in making dyes, beverages or as herbs.

At the children's garden visitor centre stand an interesting wooden-looking sculpture by an Israeli sculptor Zodok Ben-David. Named "Mystree", it was commissioned by the Yad Vashem Museum (Holocaust Martyrs) in 2003. From a distance, the sculpture look like a tree but a closer look reveal 500 human figures forming the "tree"!

Although it is part of the botanic garden, it has its own entrance along Bukit Timah Road (same entrance as the Bukit Timah Campus of the National University of Singapore).

 Other Attractions

Saraca Stream walk is another new attraction, tropical plants lined the bank of the stream as it meanders its way down a small hill. The main highlights of the stream walk are the Yellow Saraca trees (saraca cauliflora) and Red Saraca (Saraca declinata). As most of the plantings in the area are still quite young, it will take a few more years before the full bloom spectacular of the Saraca will be able reach its full potential.

Other attractions include the Palm Valley, Bandstand area, Sun Garden and Sundial Garden.

The Botanic Gardens has three lakes, namely Symphony Lake, Eco-Lake and Swan Lake. The Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage on Symphony Lake occasionally has free concerts on weekends. Notable performers include the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

The headquarters of the National Parks Board is located within the grounds of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Eateries within the garden include a French fine-dining restaurant in a colonial bungalow (Au Jardin Les Amis), a cafe at the visitor centre (Cafe Les Amis), and a restaurant at the Ginger Garden (Halia Restaurant). There are also gift shops for visitors.

Future developments (2010 onward)

Botanic Gardens MRT Station is another future development. It is to be located at the North-Western part of the Bukit Timah core of the Gardens. The station is part of the Circle Line, due to be open in 2010. The station will also be an interchange station for the proposed Downtown Line's Bukit Timah Section. With the opening of the station, getting to the gardens via public transport will be made far more convenient to residents and visitors alike.

During the launch of the Children's Garden, the CEO of NParks let slip that the Singapore Botanic Gardens will be expanded to include another 11 ha of land. The land was previously occupied by Singapore Management University.

With the extra land, visitor can look forward to new garden within the next 3 to 4 years time.

NParks revealed that it will spend some S$30 million over the next four years to build 5 thematic gardens around the newly accquired land. The first garden will be the Healing Garden, expected to open by the first half of 2010.

The other 4 gardens will be Fragrant Garden, Terrace Garden, Foliage Valley and Ethnootany Garden.

However if past projects is of any indication, these projects might not be open on time. For example, the Botany Centre and Tanglin Re-development was supposed to open by 2005 did not open till 2006. The Children's Garden was supposed to be completed by 2006 but did not open till October 2007.

The Tembusu tree (Faraea fragrans) featured on the reverse of the Singaporean five-dollar bill at Lawn E, Singapore Botanic Gardens

Dendrobium Margaret Thatcher.

A shot of the Yuen-Peng McNeice Bromeliad Collection

Dendrobium Bae Yong Jun, an orchid hybrid named after the South Korea actor

Vanda Miss Joaquim, the national flower of Singapore

Cygnus atratus in Eco Lake

Newly re-landscaped Sun Garden (formerly known as Sun Rockery).

"Flight of Swans" Sculpture installed in May 2006 at Swan Lake

View of the Botany Centre Blocks. With view of Calophyllum inophyllum and wooden sculpture that dotted the complex.

The new Tanglin Gate at the junction of Napier, Holland and Cluny Road.

Orchids