A sneak peek at Inch Lim's Origami Boat garden entry for Show Gardens: All Stars Edition (All photos: Diana Khoo/ The Edge)
The highly-anticipated 10th edition of the Singapore Garden Festival (SGF) will take place from July 4 to 12 at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore. What is giving 2026 a special sheen is the special Show Gardens: All Stars Edition where eight award-winning designers, all former “Best of Show” winners, will present their designs. World-renowned garden designer Pascal Garbe serves as Head Judge.
Participants include Kazuyuki Ishihara (Japan), John Tan Chee Hian (Singapore), Andrew Wilson and Gavin McWilliam (UK), Stefano Passerotti (Italy), Leon Kluge (South Africa), Eliam and Andy Eng (Singapore), Emily and Mark Cook (USA) and Malaysia’s very own Inch Lim.
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The sole Malaysian in a very-international line-up, Lim presents his Origami Boat garden which is designed to evoke a sense of nostalgia, while celebrating movement, light and shadow, and the flora that thrives in and around bodies of water. “I wanted to recall tropical rains and to bring to mind the aquatic cycle whereby rain falls onto the ground, collects and flows into a stream, which would then make its way to a river or pond,” he explains. “So I am trying to bring you back to that point in childhood…the joy you felt in the simple things. Although it is curated, it has to look like the garden has been there forever.”
As a collaborator, Lim has chosen Zenjiro Hashimoto of Suquru Inc, a veritable sensei when it comes to rock work and infusing the space with a subtle sense of Japanese aesthetics. The key tree anchoring the space is Ploiarium alternifolium which can usually be found growing close by rivers or in areas of flood inundation. Locally, the tree is called Riang Riang, which could mean ‘cicada’ or, more fittingly, ‘to be happy and cheerful’.
