SHEER persistence by a fiesty retiree has turned a neighbourhood at Seletar Hills West into a colourful estate, complete with roadside gardens.
Sceptical residents had to be persuaded first. The authorities came onboard next.
The suburb's green-finger revolution began in June last year, when retired physiotherapist Chew Swee Liang secured signatures of support from 170 houses in Mimosa Crescent, Nim Road and Neram Crescent.
Mrs Chew then convinced the Land Transport Authority to bring forward its maintenance work for the pavements by a few months, with an added feature - holes for small plots, or spaces, called 'planters'.
In the 1m-by-4m spaces, residents could 'create' anything from a tropical garden to a delicate rockery.
The project cost $50,000, including ripping up and re-casting the cracked concrete slabs to include the spaces. The National Parks Board (NParks) chipped in to provide churned soil and spread topsoil over the plots.
Residents, now converts to Mrs Chew's idea, went to work and by the end of last year, slabs of cold concrete had become various personalised gardens.
Tall tropical shoots, lush shrubs, and well-clipped bonsai plants, now provide colour to the pavements.
For residents, there was a bonus - as their roadside gardens teemed with life, a community of friendship bloomed.
People began visiting each other's homes to check out their gardens. They chatted with each other while raking the roadside plots, and asked and gave advice on matters green.
'I have lived in this neighbourhood for 11 years and didn't know anyone. Now we stop and talk and sometimes have breakfast together,' said Mrs Rosie Yong, 55, whose $300 mini-garden is covered with rocks, tidy plants and cropped bamboo.
Mrs Chew, the go-getting gardener and self-confessed 'kaypoh' (busybody in Hokkien), said: 'Gardening is infectious and a great way to discover the community.'
In fact, her interest in gardening grew only last year, when she was inspired by reports of Mayfair Park Estate winning the top prize at the NParks' inaugural Community In Bloom Awards, with prizes given out to estates and schools with the best gardens.
She was determined to give her own estate a green facelift under the scheme.
The cracked pavements gave her the first idea.
She contacted NParks, who said that it could help only if she had the support of her neighbours.
So she printed 100 fliers for all the houses in Mimosa Crescent, to interest the residents in the gardening project. Initially, only three people responded.
Undeterred, the crusader knocked on doors to persuade residents, getting nearly all homes to agree to the project.
The authorities went to work and a neighbourhood in bloom emerged.
The result was so stunning that it was easy for Mrs Chew to rope the residents at nearby Nim Road and Neram Crescent into the project.
Now, Mrs Chew's house is a bustling hub, where 11 members of the Community in Bloom sub-committee meet regularly over snacks to discuss plans to extend their project to other streets.
Friends also call Mrs Chew by her nickname, Yippy. Resident Ivy Ngiam, 50, said: 'I used to have a hi-bye relationship with neighbours, but now everybody knows one another. Yippy is the gel.'
For Mrs Chew, gardening is also a way to deal with an empty nest - all her four children, the eldest of whom is 43, have moved out.
The committee is collecting signatures from the 100 houses in Saraca Road to roll out the green project there.
Mrs Chew is also thinking of starting a children's gardening club.
Her hope for her community: 'That every street in Seletar Hills West is lined with plants. All that concrete is an eyesore for everyone.'
chiahta@sph.com.sg
