Posthumous Post
Gardens are like an ever-changing, living 3-dimensional art. I love the serenity and beauty of gardens and have been interested in the art of garden and landscape design. Whenever I visit a new place or country, I always wish to visit the local parks and gardens. I am thankful to God for having allowed me to see different styles of gardens in Australia, Britain, Canada, Europe, America, Scandinavia, Japan, East and South Africa, and China when I travelled abroad on work assignments, meetings, free-and-easy journeys, and with tour groups.
The most distinctive Chinese-style gardens are in Suzhou, Yangzhou, Wuxi and Hangzhou. Many high-ranking officials in ancient times chose to build private garden residences in Suzhou. Such residences with gardens would contain living quarters in traditional architectural style, pavilions, covered walkways, ponds, small bridges, flowing streams, lilly or lotus ponds, and low walls with full moon gates dividing gardens into different sections, unusual-looking stones from Taihu Lake used for making mini-mountains like those in Chinese paintings, cobblestone walkways and evergreens such as pine trees, bamboos and banana trees. Flowering plants that bloom in different seasons are planted strategically, so a garden appears different in the different seasons! Many gardens often feature the “Wax Plum” flower, which blooms in winter.
The proper name of the “Wax Plum” flower is Winter Sweet Flower (Chimonanthus). It is also known as ”Yellow Plum Blossom”, Winter Plum, Snow Plum, Cold Plum, and Early Plum. It is not a faithful plum. It was named “plum” because it blooms simultaneously with the natural plum and has a similar fragrance. The colour is like beeswax. The flowering period of the Wax Plum is 3 to 4 months long. Trees can live for more than a hundred years.
Please enjoy my Chinese ink-coloured brush painting in a long scroll entitled《Yellow Plum Blossoms Exuding Fragrance during Winter in a Garden of the Jiangnan Region”. It is a landscape painting featuring many Yellow Plum trees in full bloom in a traditional Suzhou Garden. A tall pine tree is featured on the left, while a clump of bamboo plants is on the right side of the painting. The lotus flowers in the pond have withered, and their dried leaves and stems have all been removed. Six visitors are shown enjoying the scenery at various parts of the garden.
Tan It Koon
Before retirement, Dr Tan It Koon was, among many appointments, Head of Clinical Biochemistry at SGH’s Dept of Pathology. He was the Deputy Chairman of the National Theatre Trust and Chairman for Grants and Scholarships of the Spore Cultural Foundation. He received the National Day Awards, PBM, and PPA, for his contribution to cultural and community development and excellence in Public Administration.
