A MOST UNUSUAL GARDEN TOUR

Back in January I had the opportunity to take a most unexpected garden tour. After all, when you go to an airport you expect to sit in the departure lounge and wait; maybe drink a cup of coffee or browse the bookstore. You do not expect to visit a garden. To do so would be a gardener's dream.

But this is Changi Airport, Singapore and they do things differently here. They even print a brochure on all the gardens you can visit. Let's see there are 5 gardens in Terminal 1, where we are waiting for our flight,  and the one I am making a bee line for is the Cactus Garden.

Cactus in Singapore? Where the humidity is shy of 100%. It must be indoors like the welcome air conditioned Dome in Garden on the Bay, which I will post about later.

Amazingly the garden is outside.

I sometimes think that you just can't go wrong when designing with agaves and cactus.

Throw in a few rocks and a few tree ferns and other ancient plants.

Maybe the odd metal sculpture like this saguaro.

Mulch with rocks and overlay with a few mat-forming sedums.

Maybe add some additional protection from the rain.

Add a few sculptures.

Is this like house leeks planted on the roofs of houses in England to ward away evil spirits?

I only had 10 minutes to rush around but if I am ever there again I will make a point of arriving with plenty of time to spare so I can visit all the gardens of Changi. In Terminal 1 additional to the Cactus Garden there is a Sculptural Tree Garden and a Lily Pad garden, Terminal 2 has a Bamboo Garden and a Sunflower Garden. Terminal 3 has a Butterfly Garden and Fern Garden. I won't even mention the pool, movie theatre etc. Who needs Duty Free!