Gardens by the Bay has created Singapore's largest flower carpet with a batik-inspired pattern on the Lawn at Supertree Grove.

The flower carpet measures about 34.2m—almost the length of a Boeing 737 aeroplane— and is made up of more than 100,000 pots of flowers and 20,000 cut flowers by hand.

100,000 pots of flowers, 300 volunteers

With Gardens by the Bay’s horticulturists taking the lead, the flower carpet is assembled by about 300 people from various groups such as the Council for Third Age, SG Assist, Heartware Network, and beneficiaries from the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis).

The details

Among the flowers used are seven different cultivars of chrysanthemums, oxalis, loropetalums and marigolds.

The central motif of this batik-inspired design is Singapore's national flower, the Papillionanthe (Vanda) Miss Joaquim.

In the petals of the flower carpet are representations of the four races such as a lantern, a ketupat, a diya candle, and a bell.

These are done through Rangoli, the traditional Indian art of creating designs with coloured sand and are the work of renowned local Rangoli artist Vijaya Mohan.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat also contributed to the final touches of flowers along the border of the flower carpet on Sep. 23, before the carpet gets certified as the largest one in Singapore thus far.

Free for viewing until Oct. 1

Flower carpets are works of horticultural art and are rare to see in tropical climates like Singapore's.

Weather conditions such as heat and humidity, coupled with the unpredictability of rain, make it horticulturally challenging to pull off the idea.

To create the flower carpet, Gardens by the Bay's horticulturists used live potted plants instead of flower petals commonly used in temperate countries.

The flower carpet will be displayed at Supertree Grove for nine days from Sep. 23 to Oct 1.

There is no admission charge to view the Gardens by the Bay Flower Carpet.

Top image via Gardens by the Bay/Facebook