Agnes Joaquim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Ashkhen Hovakimian 7 April 1854 |
| Died | 2 July 1899 [1] |
| Parents |
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Ashkhen Hovakimian (Agnes Joaquim) (b. 7 April 1854, Singapore - d. 2 July 1899, Singapore) 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. [2]
Hovakimian was the eldest daughter and second child of Parsick (Basil) Joaquim, an Armenian merchant and commercial agent, and Urelia Joaquim. Agnes was an avid gardener as was her mother. Besides her interest in gardening, Agnes was also an active member of the Armenian Church and a skilled embroiderer. [3]
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. [4]
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. [5]
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. [6] The pavilion and associated garden opened on 14 April 2002. [7] [6] 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. [8]
Agnes Joaquim's siblings were well known in Singapore. Narcis Street was named after her eldest brother Nerses (Narcis, born 2 December 1852). Her brothers, Joe (Joaquim, born 1 April 1856), Seth (born 11 September 1866) and John ( 17 June 1858) were well-known barristers. Joe was a founder of Braddell and Joaquim, a legal company, before founding his own firm of Joaquim Brothers. Two brothers, Arathoon (2 July 1864), followed by Simon (5 December 1867), served as Deputy Registrar of the Hackney Carriages Department. [ citation needed ]
Josephine, Agnes Joaquim's grandniece, also has an orchid named after her, the Vanda 'Josephine' (also known as Vanda Miss Joaquim 'Josephine').[ citation needed ]
Hovakimian's maternal grandfather, Isaiah Zachariah, was one of the members of Singapore's first Chamber of Commerce which met in 1837.[ citation needed ]
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae, a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth except glaciers. The world's richest diversity of orchid genera and species is found in the tropics.
Vanda, abbreviated in the horticultural trade as V., is a genus in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. There are 90 species, and the genus is commonly cultivated for the marketplace. This genus and its allies are considered to be among the most specifically adapted of all orchids within the Orchidaceae. The genus is highly prized in horticulture for its showy, fragrant, long-lasting, and intensely colorful flowers. Vanda species are widespread across East Asia, Southeast Asia, and New Guinea, with a few species extending into Queensland and some of the islands of the western Pacific.
The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a 165-year-old tropical garden located at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore. It is one of three gardens, and the only tropical garden, to be honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Botanic Gardens has been ranked Asia's top park attraction since 2013, by TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards. It was declared the inaugural Garden of the Year by the International Garden Tourism Awards in 2012.
Raffles Singapore is a historic luxury hotel at 1 Beach Road, in Singapore. It was established by Armenian hoteliers, the Sarkies Brothers, in 1887. The hotel was named after British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore.
The following lists significant events that happened during 1981 in Singapore.
The Armenian Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, referred to locally as the Armenian Church, is the oldest Christian church in Singapore, located at Hill Street in the Museum Planning Area, within the Central Area. The church was completed in 1835 and consecrated the next year. Originally a parish of the Armenian Apostolic Church, an Oriental Orthodox denomination, the last Armenian parish priest left in the late 1930s as Armenian population in Singapore dwindled. It was designated as a national monument in 1973. Armenian and Oriental Orthodox services are now regularly held at the church.
The Gardens by the Bay is a nature park spanning 101 hectares in the Central Region of Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. The park consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden. The largest of the gardens is the Bay South Garden at 54 hectares designed by Grant Associates. Its Flower Dome is the largest glass greenhouse in the world.
The Armenians in Singapore are a small community who had a significant presence in the early history of Singapore. They were among the earliest merchants to arrive in Singapore were from the British Raj when it was established as a trading port by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819. They numbered around 100 individuals at their peak in the early 1920s, but most have moved on to other countries or become absorbed into the wider Singapore community. Despite their small number, they had an impact in the commercial life of early Singapore and members of the community co-founded the newspaper The Straits Times and built the Raffles Hotel. The Armenian Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator on Armenian Street, the second church to be built in Singapore, is today the oldest surviving one.
Papilionanthe hookeriana, also known as anggrek pensil in indonesian, or kinta weed, is a species of orchid native to the swamps of Borneo, Malaya, Sumatera, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Joaquim is the Portuguese and Catalan version of Joachim and may refer to:
Stamford House is a historic building located at the corner of the junction of Stamford Road and Hill Street, in the Downtown Core of Singapore. Originally known as Oranje Building, it formerly housed a shopping mall. The building had since redeveloped along with adjoined Capitol Building and both were reopened as a hotel The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore in October 2018.
Singapore has a wide variety of flora. Plants are mainly used to beautify the landscape of Singapore. The national flower is a hybrid orchid, Vanda Miss Joaquim.
× Renantanda, abbreviated Rntda. in the horticultural trade, is the nothogenus for intergeneric hybrids between the orchid genera Renanthera and Vanda. Its parent plants are both endangered, and have separate breeding seasons, so this hybrid is incredibly rare. Because of that, it is highly marketable.
Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, also known as the Singapore orchid, the Princess Aloha orchid and formerly as Vanda Miss Joaquim, is a hybrid orchid 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.
Papilionanthe is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, southern China, and the Indian Subcontinent.
Bilateral foreign relations exist between the two countries, Armenia and Singapore. Neither country has a resident ambassador. The Embassy of Armenia in Jakarta, Indonesia is accredited to Singapore. Singapore has no representation in Armenia.
Papilionanthe teres, formerly Vanda teres and Ple. teres in the horticultural trade is an orchid species with many variations found in many parts of South-East Asia and is also found as north as Yunnan and in colder regions like the Himalayan foothills. The variety 'Andersonii' is the pod parent of Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, the national flower of Singapore, the only country to have a hybrid as its national flower.
Vanda roeblingiana, Roebelen's vanda, is a species of orchid endemic to the mountain provinces of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Hugh Low, a British colonial administrator and naturalist introduced the plant to London in 1893. The next year, Robert Allen Rolfe, an English botanist formally described the plant and thought it was originally collected from the vicinity of Singapore or Peninsular Malaysia. Low, who works in Clapton Nursery had collecting expedition to Southeast Asia with Singapore as headquarter.
Humphrey Morrison Burkill OBE, was a director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens from 1957 to 1969.
Gracia Lewis was a Singaporean orchid enthusiast and the vice-president of the Malayan Orchid Society.