Singapore Botanic Gardens

The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a tropical garden at the edge of Orchard Road, Singapore's famous shopping street. It was founded on its present site in 1859, and in 2015 it became Singapore's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also the only tropical garden among the three gardens on that list.

More than 10,000 kinds of plants grow across its 82 hectares. It is home to the National Orchid Garden, which holds the biggest orchid collection with about 1,200 species and 2,000 hybrids. About 4.5 million people visit each year. It is also a place for science and for orchid research.

History of the gardens

The first garden was started by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1822 to test crops, but it closed in 1829. The present gardens began in 1859, when the Singapore Agri-horticultural Society received land in Tanglin. Its first scientific director, Henry Ridley, studied how to grow rubber trees and perfected a way to collect rubber that is still used. By the 1920s, the Malayan peninsula produced about half of the world's latex.

Orchids and the Garden City

After Singapore became independent, the gardens' experts helped turn the island into a green 'Garden City'. In 1981 a hybrid climbing orchid called Vanda Miss Joaquim became the national flower. Singapore also practises 'orchid diplomacy': it names its best hybrids after visiting leaders and celebrities and shows them in the VIP Orchid Garden. The white octagonal bandstand on its small hill is a favourite spot for photos.

On the globe

The model shows a tropical garden with a white octagonal bandstand on a small hill. Look for the bandstand.