Regular Trimming and Pruning Schedule for Roadside Trees and Plants

Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef asked the Minister for National Development whether NParks has a regular trimming and pruning schedule for roadside trees and plants throughout Singapore.

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: NParks manages about 1.4 million trees, 57 hectares of flower beds along roadside verges and more than 500 kilometres of guard-rail plants island-wide.

For its scheduled tree inspections, NParks inspects trees along major and minor roads once every 12 and 24 months respectively. Quarterly, NParks also conducts routine maintenance checks on trees along roads and residential estates to assess the need for pruning. If any tree has dead or overgrown branches, pruning will be carried out.

NParks maintains the flower beds once every three months. The operations include weeding, pruning, fertilising and mulching 10 . The guard-rail plants are pruned every two or three months to prevent overgrowing.

Note(s) to Question No(s) 11:

10 Mulching refers to the horticulture operation of placing a layer of coarse wood chips over the planting areas. This layer of wood chips helps to suppress weeds, retain soil moisture and, when it breaks down, provide organic material and nutrients for the plants.