Record number of participating gardens in Community in Bloom Awards 2016

Singapore, 15 June 2016 - The nationwide gardening movement is enjoying steady growth, as evidenced by the Community in Bloom (CIB) Awards 2016, which saw 436 community gardens taking part, the highest number of participating gardens in its history. This represents an increase of 93 gardens or 27% over 2014. The biggest increase came from the Public Housing estate category, with 39 more gardens taking part.

Increased participation in CIB Awards over the years

First held in 2005 by National Parks Board (NParks), the biennial CIB Awards recognises excellence in gardening efforts by community groups in public and private housing estates, educational institutions and organisations. Out of the 436 participating gardens, which is nearly half of all community gardens in Singapore, 213 were from the Public Housing category, 37 from Private Housing, 113 from Education Institutions and 73 from Organisations. This represents an increase in all four categories from the previous two CIB Awards. This significant increase in the level of community participation is due to the positive response from Singaporeans towards community gardening in recent years, and also because more gardeners are keen to enter the competition to see where their gardens stand across the nation.

Award Categories

Every community garden which participated in the CIB Awards was presented an achievement band of Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze, depending on their community involvement, garden quality and environmentally friendly practices. The CIB Awards 2016 saw 178 gardens achieving the Platinum and Gold bandings, an increase from 2014’s 169. Besides the achievement bands, excellence awards like “Best Community Garden”, “Best New Community Garden” and “Environmental and Biodiversity” are given in recognition of the exemplary achievements showcased by community gardens.

Among the participating gardens, 14 were awarded the prestigious Diamond Award. This prestigious award, which is the highest recognition in the Awards, is presented to community gardens which had achieved three Platinum bandings in the CIB Awards. The Diamond Award was created in 2014 to recognise community gardens that have consistently been outstanding in their garden quality, community involvement, environmentally friendly practices and biodiversity.

Mr. Tan Jiew Hoe, Chief Judge of the CIB Awards 2016 and also President of the Singapore Gardening Society, said, “I am heartened to see that the gardeners’ love for gardening has brought them closer to one another. As the Community in Bloom network expands even further, we now regularly see gardeners from one neighbourhood helping out at gardens in other neighbourhoods, forging even more ties. This is an excellent example of how gardening brings people from different races and age groups together, improving the social fabric of the nation. This is exemplified by how we now have over 1,000 community gardening groups, an achievement considering we started with only a few groups 12 years ago. Truly we are becoming a City in a Garden.”  

Mr Ng Cheow Kheng, NParks’ Group Director of Horticulture and Community Gardening, added, “This is our 12^th year of community gardening, and we are happy to have reached the milestone of more than 1,000 community gardens. Over the years, we have seen how the standard of gardening has gone up, with more gardeners growing their expertise by participating and building show gardens in events such as the Community Garden Festival in 2015 and the upcoming Singapore Garden Festival in July 2016.  NParks will continue to facilitate the setting up of community gardens because they bring people together and enable them to contribute towards the realisation of our City in a Garden vision.”

The judging panel for CIB Awards 2016 consisted of six representatives from government agencies, professional bodies and interest groups. The awards and the achievement bandings will be presented to all gardening groups during the Singapore Garden Festival 2016 at Gardens by the Bay on 31 July 2016.

Public Housing

1.  Tampines Greenvale Residents’ Committee Community Garden: A Platinum-banded garden that was also conferred the Diamond Award for achieving its third Platinum band. This garden has a large group of gardeners with strong support from the residents in the area as well as a nearby school. The gardeners are adept in growing a wide range of edibles and ornamentals. The community garden is also very welcoming as it allows residents to stroll in the garden any time of the day.

2.  Bukit Batok Zone 2 Residents’ Committee – Culture & Art Community Garden: A Platinum-banded garden set up in 2015, it is beautifully designed to be inclusive and fenceless, allowing open access to its lush greenery for residents and members of public. The garden is attractively landscaped with ornamental plants and adorned with many unique hand-crafted garden sculptures. It also has a niche section with more than 30 species of fruit trees and a biodiversity garden to attract butterflies and pollinators. The community gardeners often host community gardening groups and pre-schoolers during which they actively share their gardening knowledge. They have also been helping other gardeners to set up new community gardens around Singapore through various activities, ranging from garden design to providing plant cuttings.

Private Housing

3.  Fengshan Simpang Bedok Neighbourhood Committee - Simpang Bedok Community Garden: This Gold-banded garden was created to celebrate Singapore’s 50 years of independence. The garden is beautifully landscaped with a focus on ornamental plants, which serves as focal point for residents. The garden has become a popular gathering place for residents to engage with one another and share the common love for gardening and greenery. The gardeners also often hold garden parties, potluck gatherings and local festival celebrations here.

4.  Tanjong Katong Neighbourhood Committee - Dakota Crescent Gardening Group: A Silver-banded garden which features an open concept edibles section. The raised planter beds were designed and built by the gardeners themselves. The materials used for the planter beds were upcycled from planks of an old swimming pool. The community gardeners here hail from over fifteen different nationalities, from countries such as Australia, Germany, Turkey and Argentina.

Education Institutes

5.  Commonwealth Secondary School Community Garden: A Platinum-banded garden that won the Environmental and Biodiversity Award in the Educational Institutions category. The school has incorporated a strong educational component in their multiple gardens, in line with its vision of helping students learn about biodiversity as they garden. The school is also part of NParks Community in Nature (CIN) initiative, which aims to connect, educate and inspire students to actively conserve and celebrate Singapore’s natural heritage. The school has a Rainforest Garden and Wetlands, bringing nature and biodiversity to the school’s doorstep and closer to its students.

6.  Meridian Primary School Community Garden: A Platinum-banded garden that won Best Community Garden in the Educational Institutions category. The school is active in engaging the community through their gardening and greening initiatives. They have created many Do-It-Yourself systems such as auto-irrigation systems for their vertical garden, filtration systems for aquatic ponds and even small nurseries for their endangered mangrove propagules. They also regularly use a biogester to produce compost from canteen food waste, which is distributed to many community gardening groups in the neighborhood to spread the love for gardening.

Organisations

7.  Siglap South Community Centre Community Garden: A Platinum-banded garden that won the Best New Community Garden award in the Organisations Category. This cheerful garden features various delightful garden themes to excite visitors and encourage them to explore the garden. On many occasions, family members and friends would join the community gardeners to take part in gardening events and activities. This has created more opportunities for family members to bond with one another.