SINGAPORE'S famed greenery has taken root in the Middle East.

The newly opened Raffles Dubai hotel, in the United Arab Emirates city, boasts a luxuriant 1ha tropical garden inspired by Singapore's garden-city landscape.

Hotel owner Sheikh Mana Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, who is also an avid horticulturist, loves the Republic's greenery so much that he has created a tropical garden at his 248-room pyramid-shaped hotel.

The hotel, which cost more than US$140 million (S$202.7 million) to build, is the Raffles Hotels & Resorts' first property under its management in the Middle East.

The green oasis on the third level of the hotel, 14m above the ground, is called the Raffles Botanical Garden.

It was designed by Singapore Garden City, a wholly owned company of the National Parks Board (NParks).

Horticulturists sourced more than 70 per cent of the plants from Asia and the remainder from Dubai. They were tended to in nurseries before being planted at the hotel.

The garden is divided into four themed areas - fire, wind, water and earth, or the four elements of life - and features some 260 trees, 650 palms, 1,400 bamboo plants, 500 aquatic plants, over 100,000 shrubs and 1,000 climbers.

Among the foliage is the Traveller's Palm, long associated with the Raffles logo. The native of Madagascar was introduced to Singapore in the early 1900s.

The hotel uses recycled water to keep the plants happy in the hot and dry climate.

Pathways run through the garden allowing guests to walk among the tropical plants.

Next to the garden is the hotel's Crossroad Cocktail Bar, where guests can indulge in another home-grown icon, the Singapore Sling.