Garden Festival I

SG has the strange tradition of an indoor, air-conditioned garden festival. No sunlight, minimal soil. It's all kind of surreal when you walk into the exhibition hall. Given the setting, complete with dim mood lighting and recorded soundtracks of insects and wildlife, we couldn't help questioning whether what we saw was actually organic or plastic (all the plants we saw were the real deal, but almost unbelievably verdant and bountiful).

 Anthuriums always look like plastic to me. 

So did the birds of paradise & uh.. everything. But they were REAL.

 Mirrors and test-tubes, fake palms made of real leaves

One of my favorite displays. Loved the gleaming metal and green :)

Creepy sculpture inspired by French folktales(??)

 Very cute pear trees. People kept asking if they were real.

Even though many of the displays were not quite to my tastes, it was definitely fun looking around the exhibits. Unfortunately we are not allowed inside them, understandably for the survival of the plants (which already have it pretty bad, what with the lack of sunlight). One thing that I felt the festival really succeeded in doing is encouraging people to take up gardening.

Video about protecting the environment. Predictable but pretty recycled plastic.

 

Like the lobby of a boutique hotel.

You can't help developing a case of garden lust walking through the exhibits. Smaller exhibits, including some put up by primary schools seem to say "it's easy", while the lack of heat, humidity, and creepy crawlies in the hall suggest cleanliness and comfort. It's all very seductive. Even black-thumbed folks like me start to fantasize about actually being able to keep plants alive and healthy, you know, maybe even a garden of my own? A very small one maybe?

One of the Best in Show winners. I want a bar in my garden just like this.

I haven't been out and about with my camera (okay actually not mine) for a long, long time and it's been a fun reunion. This despite the dim lighting and my own shaky hands conspiring to ruin most of my photos. Will probably take it out again soon.