Nerisa del Carmen Guevara
I. The Garden
In 1963, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew planted a mempat tree (Cratoxylum formosum) at Farrer Circus. This was the beginning of the great plan to make a City within a Garden. After fifty years, in 2013, he planted a rain tree (Albizia saman) at Holland Park.
The first tree grew strong and lush, in the middle of a roundabout till road projects took over in 1971.
The last tree planted by Mr. Lee was the sea teak tree in Bukit Merah in 2014.
In an article in Channel News Asia, this: Grassroots Leader for the Tanglin-Cairnhill GRC Anthony Teo, described the event: “It was a very great day. It was the first tree with electronic technology and Mr. Lee Kuan Yew just pressed the button and the water just flowed over the trees.”
My mother was a gardene
