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  Today Online 3 Aug 06
the urban gardener
Coffee With ...
RP Jickky, 52, director of landscaping firm Tropical Environment
By David Chew

He grew up helping his father tend the family garden and ended up, years on, creating lush landscapes for residential projects such as The Peak, the Singapore Management University, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the Singapore Zoo and Changi Airport Terminal 2. This December, Mr RP Jickky will pit his talents against garden designers from all over the world, at the National Parks Board's (NParks') first Singapore Garden Festival, which is expected to draw 200,000 international visitors.

A concrete jungle of modernity, Singapore may seem the least likely place for a horticulturist. But Mr Jickky tells David Chew it's about finding ways to put the greenery back into our urban city.

Did you always know you wanted to work with plants?

I think I was born a horticulturist. When I was eight or nine years old, I just knew that was what I wanted to do. My parents were keen gardeners but, in my family, I was the only child among eight who took it up after them. I later graduated with a diploma in horticulture and design in 1976 from the School of Ornamental Horticulture Singapore. Singapore has this thing about having what they want now, including trees.

What's your take on instant trees, since it's what your business relies on?

Singaporeans are impatient--yes, developers, condo owners, we all are. Developers want huge trees when they open residential projects; they can't wait for saplings to grow up. And condo owners want a nice, finished product when they are handed their keys.

Yet, these same developers would just kill off old trees that get in the way. I just rescued a 20-year-old tree from Katong that would otherwise have been cut down to make way for a development there. If we, as a society, are to become more environmentally aware, we need to keep these things in mind.

In recent times, our ministers too have raised concerns over the cutting down of really old trees by developers. I think that's a good start. New projects such as the Singapore Arts School, for example, they build around the trees and integrate them into the design rather than chop them down.

Why do we need a gardening festival?

It's great that NParks is finally doing this. If we are known as a Garden City, isn't a garden festival overdue? It's nice that inputs like mine to the nation are recognised, and we'll be encouraged to do more research and development to green Singapore.

How can you make a concrete jungle like Singapore greener?

When you think of gardens here, you obviously can't think of those, say, in Australia. Every single space counts here, so that's where our R&D (research and development) comes in.

We've invented something here called green roofs--literally, turning the tops of buildings into patches of green, growing everything from grass to rose bushes. We've done it for the Singapore Botanic Gardens' new roof entrance, and one of the buildings at NTU.

This not only is more aesthetically pleasing for our urbanised city, it also reduces the temperature in the buildings and, thus, is more ecologically friendly. We've also created a simulated tree trunk made from glass, fibre and reinforced oxide, which mimics a real tree trunk, allowing plants to grow on it. A lot of these products of ours are used at the Singapore Zoo and the Jurong BirdPark.

The thing with these manufactured materials--some of which we will be using for the boardwalk at Chek Jawa--is that they reduce the demand for trees to be cut down.

What can HDB dwellers do for a greener lifestyle in a high-rise concrete city?

If you live in a flat and want to soften the walls, go vertical. It saves space and replaces the other option of having planters. Green walls that are self-irrigating can be erected and plants can grow on them, living on top of one another, like, well, Singaporeans in HDB flats living atop each other.
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