"Community in Bloom" Projects in Private Estates

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for National Development how can the Ministry promote and encourage the initiation of more "Community in Bloom" projects in private estates across Singapore.

Today, there are more than 850 Community in Bloom (CIB) gardens nationwide. Of these gardens, 81 are in private estates. They utilise mainly the roadside green verges, converting them into linear gardens. NParks has been encouraging the setting up of more CIB gardens in private estates by providing spaces, information, training and networking opportunities.

In terms of space, NParks prepares roadside planting verges with suitable soil. This facilitates the start-up of community garden groups within private estates.

For Neighbourhood Committees (NCs) which have larger community gardening interest groups requesting to start gardens, NParks provides community garden spaces in our Community Parks. This has enabled these CIB gardeners to grow a wider range of ornamental plants, vegetables and herbs. Currently, there are more than 20 community gardens started by NCs, located within our Community Parks.

NParks also offers horticulture information, training, workshops and networking sessions for community gardeners to build their capability to grow and sustain their gardens. For example, NParks offers horticulture advice, such as garden design and plant selection, for interested residents who are keen to start roadside community gardens. NParks also invites successful private estate CIB groups to share their experiences with other private estate residents that want to start CIB gardens, at platforms, such as the quarterly Gardener's Day Out event held in Hortpark. In addition, NParks provides free access to more than 40 online gardening resources.

To further encourage more CIB projects, NParks introduced the CIB Indoor initiative in August 2014 as an extension to the CIB programme, providing options to garden with family, friends and neighbours indoors. Through this extension, NParks provides technical advice to those who are keen to beautify and enhance the interior scapes of shared common spaces with greenery.

When garden design competitions like Gardeners' Cup are staged during the biennial Singapore Garden Festival (SGF), private estate CIB groups are teamed up with CIB groups from other sectors – public estates, schools and companies – so that there are opportunities for cross learning and the formation of self-help networks. Outstanding CIB gardens are also

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recognised through the biennial CIB Awards.