Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister for State for Trade & Industry and Manpower, was the Guest of Honour at the official launch of Green Thumbs and GardenTech last Saturday (15 August 2009). He presented the inaugural ‘Best Sourcing Initiative (BSI) Awards' to two landscape companies - Kiat Lee Landscape & Building Ltd and Swee Bee Contractor Pte Ltd - which have provided the best value and quality service to its customers. The awards are given out for the first time to acknowledge efforts by local landscape companies to enhance standards of Singapore's Landscape Industry.

In its forth year, Green Thumbs attracted over 200 international and local participants in its 12 categories of competition. There were 12 Skills Championships, an increase from 10 last year. 200 landscape practitioners from 26 companies participated in Green Thumbs this year, up from 160 practitioners and 20 companies last year. Both the number of participants and categories of competitions had increased steady. The various competitions were keenly contested and standards of competition were very high. A total of 16 Gold medals were presented to the champions.

Green Thumbs is held together with GardenTech for the first time offering a fuller spectrum of experience to visitors to this industry event.