“The Woodlands Botanical Garden strives to be all inclusive and community-centric where skills and talents ranging from gardening, to engineering, to the arts are explored and shared with our visitors to encourage community building and a sense of nationhood through our strong ‘kampung spirit’.”
Mr. Ganesh Kumar, WBG Chairman
COMMUNITY FOR COMMUNITY
The Woodlands Botanical Garden (WBG) began as a humble collaboration between the Nparks (Parks division) and Mr Ganesh Kumar in July 2020 when the COVID-19 circuit breaker in Singapore ended. Given permission to plant the hill garden comprising the sides of the walkway leading from the bottom to the top of the nine-storey northern slope of the beautiful Woodlands Town Park East, the garden replaced areas once overtaken by ‘lalang’. This not only brought a myriad of colours to the once dull hill, but also gave more life and biodiversity to the space. The main struggle of maintaining the plants involved the lugging of jerry cans of water up and down the hill, numerous times a day, especially during the hot season.
Mr Ganesh and some early volunteers
Persevering and not letting giving up be an option, Mr Ganesh and his family pushed on to ensure that the plants were well-maintained and happy. Along with this, many more people started walking the hill because of the beautiful planting, and this gave rise to many lovely new friendships between residents as well as visitors. People came from near and far and shared how the garden helped them forget their worries and problems and how it served as a beacon of new hope, proving to be a place of mental wellbeing as well.
As time went on, visitors started to request to volunteer to offer their own contribution in the upkeep of the garden and its walkways and this group has been steadily growing over the years. In 2021, the laying of a waterpipe for the garden and its establishment as a community garden brought tremendous growth and helped the garden expand further onto the lower, flatter regions of the slope. This allowed groups who could not scale the hill to be able to enjoy the garden as well.
Early days of garden and volunteers
With the introduction of more intricate infrastructure such as irrigation and trellises, those who were interested in building and materials also started joining the team, while the establishment of events such as festival light-ups and open houses brought together even more people who were interested in giving back to the community in other ways besides gardening.
This forged a strong sense of the ‘kampung spirit’ as people from all demographics, regardless of age, gender or race started coming together as one to serve the community, giving rise to the garden’s tagline ‘Community for Community’. The garden was officially named on the first of January 2022 as the ‘Woodlands Botanical Garden’ with the pride and blessings of the greater community.
Before and after photos of hill slope
Within just a year of receiving its moniker, the garden had been featured on all local channels, as well as in print media and Youtube channels. By forging numerous partnerships, the WBG aims to provide more wholesome events and activities for the community to improve mental wellbeing, as well as engage in biodiversity preservation and conservation efforts.
“The Woodlands Botanical Garden strives to be all inclusive and community-centric where skills and talents ranging from gardening, to engineering, to the arts are explored and shared with our visitors to encourage community building and a sense of nationhood through our strong ‘kampung spirit’.”
Mr. Ganesh Kumar,
WBG Chairman
COMMUNITY FOR COMMUNITY
The Woodlands Botanical Garden (WBG) began as a humble collaboration between the Nparks (Parks division) and Mr Ganesh Kumar in July 2020 when the COVID-19 circuit breaker in Singapore ended. Given permission to plant the hill garden comprising the sides of the walkway leading from the bottom to the top of the nine-storey northern slope of the beautiful Woodlands Town Park East, the garden replaced areas once overtaken by ‘lalang’. This not only brought a myriad of colours to the once dull hill, but also gave more life and biodiversity to the space. The main struggle of maintaining the plants involved the lugging of jerry cans of water up and down the hill, numerous times a day, especially during the hot season.
Mr Ganesh and some early volunteers
Persevering and not letting giving up be an option, Mr Ganesh and his family pushed on to ensure that the plants were well-maintained and happy. Along with this, many more people started walking the hill because of the beautiful planting, and this gave rise to many lovely new friendships between residents as well as visitors. People came from near and far and shared how the garden helped them forget their worries and problems and how it served as a beacon of new hope, proving to be a place of mental wellbeing as well.
As time went on, visitors started to request to volunteer to offer their own contribution in the upkeep of the garden and its walkways and this group has been steadily growing over the years. In 2021, the laying of a waterpipe for the garden and its establishment as a community garden brought tremendous growth and helped the garden expand further onto the lower, flatter regions of the slope. This allowed groups who could not scale the hill to be able to enjoy the garden as well.
Early days of garden and volunteers
With the introduction of more intricate infrastructure such as irrigation and trellises, those who were interested in building and materials also started joining the team, while the establishment of events such as festival light-ups and open houses brought together even more people who were interested in giving back to the community in other ways besides gardening.
This forged a strong sense of the ‘kampung spirit’ as people from all demographics, regardless of age, gender or race started coming together as one to serve the community, giving rise to the garden’s tagline ‘Community for Community’. The garden was officially named on the first of January 2022 as the ‘Woodlands Botanical Garden’ with the pride and blessings of the greater community.
Before and after photos of hill slope
Within just a year of receiving its moniker, the garden had been featured on all local channels, as well as in print media and Youtube channels. By forging numerous partnerships, the WBG aims to provide more wholesome events and activities for the community to improve mental wellbeing, as well as engage in biodiversity preservation and conservation efforts.