Rooftop garden – Kuala Lumpur

Most Cities around the world are often associated with gray concrete buildings that tower to the sky creating what is commonly called a concrete jungle. If it is a well-planned city you will find some green areas like parks and pockets of landscaping along the streets. Space in cities is at a premium and consequently the creation of parks and natural recreation space is not given top priority. What a lot of people do not realise is that there is a lot of space on the roof tops of high-rise buildings which are open to the Sun and rain, ideal locations for a garden.

There is a very beautiful roof top garden in Kuala Lumpur that is often over looked by visitors to the Shopping centre. It is an oasis of calm and beauty, where flowers bloom, birds chirp and waters flow. This is the “Secret Garden” of the 1 Utama shopping in Kuala Lumpur, which is located on the rooftop of the shopping complex. Entrance is free, but you do have to sign a visitor’s book before entering the garden. Stepping out of the lift, you are greeted with a collection of colourful foliage plants in concrete planters and the security guard .The whole roof had been turned into a beautiful green garden with colourful flowers, tall trees, cactus, orchids, ferns, yams and palms. Looking over the garden wall you can see the skyline of the city yet
here you are in a tropical paradise with flowing streams and even a waterfall. It is hard to believe that you are actually on a rooftop. This rooftop Garden was designed by Francis
Ng & Alfred Cheong and opened to the public in 2009. It is a 30,000 sq ft, tropical evergreen, and ever-flowering garden with over 500 species of trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers, epiphytes and water features. Designed in such a way that the meandering path takes you to various little pockets of flowering plants without being able to see what is around the next corner, one begins to wonder just how big the garden really is. Open to the sun and the elements, there are also shade houses and pergolas with benches to sit and contemplate nature. The air is abuzz with the sound of honey bees going about their business of collecting nectar joined by the chirping of brilliant little sunbirds and flower-peckers who also come for the sweet nectar. I will admit that if you actually concentrate, you will also hear the “Gray sound” of cars in the distance, however one soon forgets about it with all the greenery surrounding you. The plants have been chosen not only for their colour and beauty, but also for their scent. Some food plants such as Coffee, rice, bananas and avocados are grown here, while making up the herbal section are pepper vines, Pandan , lemon grass and curry leaf . For a little bit of Heaven on Earth – do visit the garden next time your in Kuala Lumpur.

Open on weekends and public holidays, 10 am. to 10 pm. Closed on working weekdays. Free entrance.

Text and photographs by David Richard