Inventor of Singapore’s national flower
Ashkhen Hovakimian (Agnes Joaquim) was a Singaporean Armenian who bred Singapore’s first hybridised orchid hybrid, Vanda ‘Miss Joaquim’. Joaquim was inducted into the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame in 2015.
Singapore’s national flower: Vanda ‘Miss Joaquim’
Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, also known as the Singapore orchid, the Princess Aloha orchid and formerly as Vanda Miss Joaquim, is a hybrid orchid (a grex) that is the national flower of Singapore. For its resilience and year-round blooming quality, it was chosen on 15 April 1981 to represent Singapore’s uniqueness and hybrid culture.
Agnes Joaquim won prizes at annual flower shows and famously won the prize for the rarest orchid at the 1899 annual flower show. The first prize was for a hybrid that was named after her, Vanda ‘Miss Joaquim’. Already suffering from cancer at the time, she died three months after receiving this prize.
In 1947, Vanda ‘Miss Joaquim’ was chosen as the most fitting emblem for the nascent Progressive Party. In 1957 it was chosen as the crest for the Malayan Orchid Society. But in April 1981, came the ultimate accolade. From a field of forty contenders, Vanda Miss Joaquim was selected as the national flower of Singapore.
In Tanjong Pagar, the Vanda Miss Joaquim Pavilion garden marks the site of Joaquim’s former residence on the no longer extant Narcis Street, where the orchid was first bred. The pavilion and associated garden opened on 14 April 2002. A short distance away is the Vanda Miss Joaquim Park, located on Yan Kit Road, which « commemorates the founder » of the national flower, and the orchid itself.
