New features at Japanese Garden at Jurong Lake Gardens shaping up through community involvement

- New features at soon-to-open Japanese Garden include an aquatic garden with Singapore’s largest water lily collection, a cave-inspired garden with vertical green walls, and a floral garden co-created with the community

- A diverse range of stakeholders, including residents, students, volunteers and donors, have contributed to the enhancement of Japanese Garden thus far

The upcoming Japanese Gardens at Jurong Lake Gardens will be a showcase of community stewardship, with diverse stakeholders contributing to the ongoing rejuvenation works through efforts such as habitat enhancements and tree planting. Among the highlights of the rejuvenated Japanese Garden will be new curated gardens that showcase our tropical flora and a series of waterscapes interwoven with greenery. Japanese Garden, along with the completed Lakeside Garden and the upcoming Chinese Garden, is one of the three gardens of Jurong Lake Gardens, the first national gardens in the heartlands. When open in September 2024, Chinese and Japanese Gardens will expand the variety of experiences for visitors of all ages at the Gardens, further realising its vision of being a people’s garden.

Examples of new gardens at rejuvenated Japanese Garden

The rejuvenated Japanese Garden, spanning approximately 13 ha, will feature new curated gardens designed with a focus on tropical horticulture, water-sensitive designs, and colours and textures found in the tropics.

When Japanese Garden reopens in September 2024, visitors coming from Jurong East MRT station and crossing the Japanese Garden Bridge will be greeted by the Water Lily Pavilion, which opens up to the Water Lily Garden.

The new Water Lily Garden will be home to the largest water lily collection in Singapore, with over 150 day- and night-blooming water lily varieties sourced from around the world. This will include both the largest and smallest member of the water lily family, as well as several varieties that will be on public display in Singapore for the first time. Boardwalks extending across a series of terraced ponds will allow visitors to take scenic walks along cascading waters and admire the water lilies up close, offering more opportunities for nature appreciation.

Visitors can also look forward to the new Sunken Garden, which will immerse them in a gorge-like landscape surrounded by lush vertical green walls lined with epiphytes. Mimicking the natural geological formation of a cave, the centrepiece of the Sunken Garden will be a cenote[1]-inspired water feature that will harvest rainwater. With its naturally cooling environment, the Sunken Garden will also offer visitors a refreshing respite.

Visitors entering Japanese Garden from Lakeside Garden will be greeted by the new Floral Garden with its four thematic gardens inspired by the elements of a traditional Japanese garden, such as sculptural rocks, bamboo clusters and ornamental trees. As part of efforts to foster community stewardship, NParks has engaged community stakeholders to co-design the community plots within the Floral Garden.

Community involvement key in shaping the Gardens

Earlier today, over 150 residents, grassroots leaders, students from Institutes of Higher Learning, volunteers from Friends of Jurong Lake Gardens and Nature Kakis Network, and donors participated in the ongoing enhancement of Japanese Garden by planting trees and shrubs on site with Advisers from Jurong GRC, West Coast GRC, Yuhua SMC and Bukit Batok SMC, including Minister for National Development and Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration Mr Desmond Lee, and Minister for Sustainability and the Environment and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations Ms Grace Fu.

The community tree planting event was supported by a S$21,000 donation from Mr Han Jok Kwang towards the Plant-A-Tree Programme, a platform for organisations and individuals to participate in the greening of our City in Nature and contribute to the OneMillionTrees movement by planting trees, under the Garden City Fund, NParks’ registered charity and IPC. Mr Han is a member of the Garden City Fund Management Committee.

In addition, Micron Technology donated S$1 million through the Garden City Fund towards supporting the Gardens’ sustainability efforts through the implementation of a smart water management system that helps clean and restore the water in the Water Lily Garden and the larger Japanese Garden.

Furthermore, NParks has worked with JTC to develop the design concept and partner students from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic and ITE College East, as well as volunteers from Friends of Jurong Lake Gardens to design and co-create five community plots within the Floral Garden.

This continues a tradition of engaging stakeholders in the rejuvenation of the Chinese and Japanese Gardens. For instance, over 14,000 suggestions from the community were gathered for the design of Jurong Lake Gardens Central (now known as Chinese and Japanese Gardens) and East during NParks’ public engagement exercise from November 2016 to April 2017. These suggestions have been incorporated into the design of the Gardens where feasible.

Altogether, these efforts will further NParks’ aim to nurture greater community stewardship of our green spaces, as Singapore transforms into a City in Nature.

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[1] Cenote – A deep natural well or sinkhole, formed by the collapse of surface limestone that exposes groundwater underneath.