Our First Major Milestone...

This year's Clean and Green Week was one that is most memorable for Green Culture Singapore (GCS). Never did we expect that within such a short time span - slightly more than one year after GCS was set up - that we would be given the opportunity to promote the gardening hobby outside the cyberspace community. We were invited to deliver talks at Alexandra (AH) and National University Hospitals (NUH). Additionally over the weekend, GCS was given a booth at the inaugural Community in Bloom exhibition held at Bedok Reservoir Park to promote gardening and our website.

Above: Just a handful of people who supported us in the Community in Bloom Exhibition.

The Talks @ the Hospitals

We kicked start the Clean and Green Week at AH to give GCS's very first gardening talks. There, Ryan gave a presentation on the many exotic plants that can be used to landscape one's garden. The topic revolved around Bromeliads, Plumerias and Tillandsias which are seldom used in local gardens presently. Wilson then introduced the crowd to both the GCS website and discussion forum.

Later in the week, GCS had another similar session at NUH. In his presentation, Wilson also touched on a few unusual edible plants that can be grown in the hospital's vegetable garden. In order to make the presentation interactive, Wilson quizzed the audience on the identity of each edible plant by flashing a picture showing only a small part of the vegetable/herb. For each correct answer, the participant got some seeds or a plant cutting to grow.

We would like to thank our members who came to support us at AH and Mo who attended our talk at NUH. We were pleasantly surprised that we had members amongst the tiny crowd: guqin and Ifurita. Thanks for coming!

The Community in Bloom Exhibition @ Bedok Reservoir Park

Left: Ryan in deep thought - where and what to put in next? Right: Ryan and Wilson at work on the night before the exhibition.

Despite the wet weather just a day before the exhibition, we journeyed down to greenhorn's place where we combed through his entire collection of Tillandsia grown in his open garden. Trying our utmost to ignore the incessant raindrops that dropped on our heads, we chose only the best to be showcased on the big day. After that, we brought the plants down to the exhibition site where we carefully mounted the delicate airplants on tree ferns using wires and cable ties. It was almost midnight when we finished everything. We were touched by the dedication and hard work shown by the staff from the National Parks Board (NParks) who were working through the night.

Above: Mr Mah at the GCS booth who earlier launched the Community in Bloom Exhibition.

Resting just only for a few hours overnight, we woke to herald the big day for GCS. The exhibition was launched by the Minister for National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan, who also visited our booth. With the help of our members, we distributed our very own GCS calendars and name cards to promote the website. At the same time, we answered some queries that visitors to the exhibition had on gardening. We also got in touch with other local societies and nurseries. We were initially worried about the unpredictable weather. Luckily, we were blessed with fair weather.