Community in Bloom programme wants to bring gardens indoors

My Green Space: Indoor Gardening Made Simple is priced at $29.50, but can be bought for $23.60 at the Singapore Garden Festival. -- PHOTO: NPARKS
My Green Space: Indoor Gardening Made Simple is priced at $29.50, but can be bought for $23.60 at the Singapore Garden Festival. -- PHOTO: NPARKS
Visitors voting for their favourite gardens chose "Winter Illusion" by New Zealanders Kate Hillier and Dan Rutherford, who partnered local landscape firm Flora Landscape. -- PHOTO: SINGAPORE GARDEN FESTIVAL
Speaking at an event at the Festival, Mr Lee also launched a coffee-table book, "Community In Bloom - My Community, Our Gardens", and highlighted how the programme has engaged Singaporeans from all walks of life in the greening of the country. -- PHOTO: NPARKS
NorthWest District's community gardening groups' "Sound of the Forest", which included musical instruments, also won the Gardeners' Choice Award. -- PHOTO: SINGAPORE GARDEN FESTIVAL

SINGAPORE - After 10 years of getting ordinary Singaporeans involved in developing outdoor gardens, the Community in Bloom programme by the National Parks Board is expanding indoors.

Launching a 200-page book called "My Green Space: Indoor Gardening Made Simple" on Saturday, Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee said this move brings the City in a Garden vision "to exciting new heights, such that greenery is truly everywhere".

Mr Lee said that indoor gardens in residential areas may be more accessible to seniors with mobility difficulties and the handicapped, and can also be done in offices. For a start, NParks will conduct indoor gardening workshops for residents.

The book is priced at $29.50, but can be bought for $23.60 at the Singapore Garden Festival.

Speaking at an event at the Festival, Mr Lee also launched a coffee-table book, "Community In Bloom - My Community, Our Gardens", and highlighted how the programme has engaged Singaporeans from all walks of life in the greening of the country. "Not only does this beautify the neighbourhood, it has brought neighbours together," he said. "Some community gardeners have even grown crops and shared them with one another, rekindling a bit of the old kampong spirit."

The Singapore Garden Festival at Gardens by the Bay ends on Sunday at 10pm. It has seen some 200,000 visitors so far.

Visitors voting for their favourite gardens chose "Winter Illusion" by New Zealanders Kate Hillier and Dan Rutherford, who partnered local landscape firm Flora Landscape. They picked up the People's Choice Award. NorthWest District's community gardening groups' "Sound of the Forest", which included musical instruments, also won the Gardeners' Choice Award.

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