Tulipmania with Miffy at Gardens By The Bay

There will be tulips blooming in Singapore over this week and guess which little tike had a tiny part to play in that?

Following its hugely successful run last year, Tulipmania will be returning to Gardens By The Bay this year, starting tomorrow! From 14 April to 4 May 2014, the flower field in the Flower Dome will be awash with tulips and hyacinths, and it promises to be a spectacular sight. 

But before that, the flowers have to be planted, and we were really excited to be invited to be part of the gardening crew for the day. 

We were first briefed on the layout of plants on the flower field, which looks to be quite different from last year's arrangement. Instead of rows, the flowers will be grown around miniatures of Dutch canal scenes, houses and windmills in a setup inspired by Madurodam, a popular miniature park in the Netherlands.

Just as I was starting to get a little bit worried about the size of the task, we were led to the back-of-house and shown what we actually had to do: plant tulip bulbs in pairs in planter boxes. (Whew!) These planter boxes would, when completed, be installed in front of Dutch houses to bloom. The tulip bulbs, all 25,000 of them, had arrived overnight from Holland, conveniently grown in their own little individual planters. So all we had to do was pop them out and replant them in the planter boxes. I was surprised to learn that it takes 4 to 5 years to grow tulip bulbs to the size that were being used for Tulipmania. Size matters! The bigger the bulbs, the bigger and stronger the flowers they produce. 

We were given gardening tools and big bags of compost and told to get going. All the kids needed to hear were the reassuring words: "it doesn't matter if you make a mess!". With that, they were off! Naomi's favourite bit was digging in compost.

And Noey's was trying to work out the optimum height to achieve the best compost-in-planter to compost-on-table ratio.

He was pretty pleased with our handiwork when we were done! Some of the bulbs didn't quite sit straight, but another interesting thing we learnt about tulip bulbs is that they are phototropic, ie. they will always grow towards the light. So it didn't matter if the bulbs were leaning to a side as they would naturally grow up straight up to the light anyway. Very forgiving toward us amateur gardeners, I'd say!

The real highlight for the morning however, weren't so much the tulips but a certain bunny who caused quite a stir with her appearance -- Miffy! If you're wondering what Miffy has to do with tulips, the answer is that is that, like these tulips, Miffy hails from The Netherlands. (Hands up those of you who thought that Miffy was Japanese!) Miffy's original Dutch name is Nijntje, a shortening of diminutive konijnte or "little rabbit".

It was our first time meeting Miffy live and the kids were very taken by her, especially Meips. She couldn't keep away from Miffy and kept trailing Miffy around, wanting to go hold her hand and give her a hug. I had to physically remove her to prevent her from getting in the photos of others.

(Photo credit: KLM's Facebook Page) 

As an added bonus, the children were give the opportunity to do some planting in the flower field under the watchful eye of Miffy. Boy, were they enthusiastic! Armed with shovels and their hyacinth bulbs, they got down to work.

The kids both enjoyed the process thoroughly and proved themselves to be pretty good gardeners, though Meips was foiled in her attempt to shower her Gor-gor with soil.

After all that work, someone really needed to rest!

We'll be back again at Tulipmania again this week to see the flowers in bloom. The tulips are expected to start blooming from tomorrow and the best time to catch them is likely to be the upcoming Good Friday long weekend (or slightly before that!). If you're excited to catch Miffy, do note that Miffy will only be making special appearances at Tulipmania at the following events:

1. Easter Egg Hunt with Miffy
Date: Sunday 20 April 2014
Egg Hunt Sessions: 11am, 1pm and 3pm.
(Each session is 1 hour long and registration opens in the Flower Dome 30 mins before each session.)
Eligibility: Chidren aged 3 to 12 years. (Children between the ages of 3 to 6 require parental supervision.)
Admission charges to the Cooled Conservatories apply.

2. Tulip Cheer
Date: Saturday 26 April 2014
Appearance Timings: 11am, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm.

Also, starting from 14 April 2014, all visitors to the Flower Dome will receive a souvenir Miffy postcard. Don't forget to collect yours as you enter the Flower Dome, while stocks last! 

For more details on ongoing activities for Tulipmania, do check out the Tulipmania page on the Gardens By the Bay website. You can also check out the KLM Facebook Page to follow Miffy's adventures in Singapore. 

Tulipmania
Flower Dome, Gardens By The Bay
14 April to 4 May 2014
9am to 9pm daily
Admission charges to the Cooled Conservatories apply.
(There is an ongoing promotion for Senior Citizens offering a 50% discount off regular Senior Citizen rates for the Flower Dome. ie. resident senior citizens only need pay $4 for entry!)