Where the sun never shines

Cold climate gardeners who want to create gardens with exotics know that they need to provide protection during winter months.  The green house, the orangerie, the cold frame, the basement are common ways to provide sheltered environments.  Gardeners at the Singapore Botanic Garden have the opposite problem.  Sustaining plants that thrive in cooler tropical highland forests requires the creation of -- the Cool House.

Entering the cool house provides an escape from the heat of the day:  75°F vs. an outside temperature of 95°F.   A particular treat was seeing the pitcher plant or Monkey Cup, a name that comes from seeing monkeys drink from them.  This plant is a carnivore that traps insects inside the pitcher to create a nutritious soup.

The Singapore Botanic Garden, founded in 1822, was part of a trend to establish botanic gardens in the tropics to study plants that could create economic value.  Research in the 1890’s played a key role in increasing rubber production, and the garden became famous in the 1920’s for work with orchids that fostered commercial orchid production.

If you missed it, check out the Orchid Garden here.

 

1840 lithograph showing the Government Hill with some evidence of the first “botanical and experimental garden” in Singapore.  Source: The Singapore Botanic Garden.

Happy Halloween from 'Monster Park'

In the spirit of Halloween, I wanted to share my visit to one of the most magical gardens I have ever seen, the Sacro Bosco or Sacred Wood.  Adding to the spell of the Sacro Bosco was how hard it was to find. 

While on my way to Viterbo, Italy, I couldn’t get my GPS to recognize either the name or the address for this garden.  This had happened to me several times in Italy, so I was mildly amused, confident that my hotel would help me with directions.  After all, I had chosen my hotel because it was close to the garden.  

My amusement turned to concern when the hotel staff had never heard of Sacro Bosco.  One by one, each tried to figure out where I was trying to go, finally agreeing with my GPS that no such garden existed in the area.  They were quite sure of themselves.  At one point, with the entire staff gathered at the front desk, they reached a consensus that I had the wrong town.  

In a last ditch effort, I recalled that I had packed a wrinkled black and white photo of the garden.   It was buried in my suitcase, but when I showed it to the staff one exclaimed, “Oh! That’s the ‘Monster Park’, why didn’t you say that from the start!” 

Emboldened by a huge sense of relief, and with my camera in tow, I drove the short distance to the garden.   The sign in the photograph of the sphinx proclaims, “He who does not visit this place with raised eyebrows and tight lips will fail to admire the wonders of the world.”  Beyond the sphinx, heavily wooded paths lead to the head of Orcus, god of the underworld, who is surrounded by sea monsters and figures from another world.

Stay tuned for more about this garden in the next post.