There was no way I could possibly visit Singapore without stopping by the Supertree Grove at Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay. After all, I’ve seen the BBC’s magnificent Planet Earth II. I have, therefore, seen the magnificent Cities episode which prominently features the Supertrees (as well as some incredible time-lapse footage from both Hong Kong and Shanghai). And as much as I understand the theory behind the Supertrees as experiments in vertical gardening as a means to potentially greenify the cities of the future and curb global warming and evade the pesky realities of land as a limited resource, my main emotional connection to the concept of Supertrees was the indubitable truth that Supertrees look really, really, really cool.
Having visited the Supertree growth in person and having walked along the skyway suspended near the structures’ canopies, I can attest to that truth. Supertrees do, in fact, look super amazingly cool. Cool enough that on the day of my visit, it was hard to convince myself that it was a real experience; it felt like stepping into a parallel universe. In literally every single direction, stunning photo opportunities. The mixture of the controlled geometry of the Supertree structures and the organic forms of the plants climbing the scaffolding. The Singapore jungle and distant shipyard and the other nearby Supertrees. My fond memories of watching Planet Earth II.
In the few minutes I walked near the canopy of the Supertrees, I took hundreds of pictures.
This is one of my favorites; I think I’m drawn to its composition. The sharp foreground line and the hazier background; the bolder foreground greens and purples and the softer background blues. Plus, flowers.
Snapshots from Jiangsu 