On a sunny Monday morning in May, veteran arborist Eric Ong makes his rounds across the island of Singapore. Lean and tanned from years under the sun, Ong drives toward the city center. Along the way, before he’s even out of the car, Ong studies the canopies of green between the towers crowding out the sky in the city’s central business district, dominated by cool blue and gleaming grey.
Ong is a custodian of the island’s trees, and his job is to check up on them. His first destination of the day is Connaught Drive, a wide avenue flanked by dignified rain trees (Samanea saman), some topping 150 years old. “The big rain trees you see today were the pioneers of their time,” says Ong, his figure tiny next to a regal-looking rain tree. One of the most common streetside trees in Singapore, it’s easily identifiable by its large, umbrella-shaped crown, which offers a reprieve from Singapore’s unforgiving sun. Ferns, orchids, and other plants thrive on the sprawling branches and fissured trunk.
Arborists like Ong are also entrusted with the responsibility of looking after Singapore’s heritage trees, ones conserved for their social, historical, cultural, or aesthetic value. These range from the Burmese banyan (Ficus kurzii) to the towering tembusu (Fagraea fragrans) and the saga tree (Adenanthera pavonina), with its bright red seeds. The mature rain trees—Ong’s favorites—are aged sentinels that witnessed Singapore’s historic milestones, including independence from Malaysia in 1965 and the first National Day Parade the following year.