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| A small garden is set up in an alley in Haebangchon, central Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photos by Lee Suh-yoon |
2019 Seoul Garden Show lands in Haebangchon
By Lee Suh-yoon
Haebangchon, an old neighborhood perched on the foot of Mount Nam, is the new canvas for Seoul City's annual gardening show.
In the last few weeks, artists and resident gardeners have transformed the quarter's grayer cavities into green islets. The result is charming. Clumps of orange cosmos line store fronts and stairs. Lush fronds hang from bus stops and naked beam roofs over the market street. Modern gardens are tucked into the idle gaps between close-knit buildings, shooing out the weeds and recycling scraps.
The annual Seoul Garden Show is better known for packing lavish flower tunnels and other landscaping decor on wide lawns. Previous events were held at Gwanghwamun Square, World Cup Park and Yeouido Park.
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| Canopy plants liven up Sinheung Market in Haebangchon, central Seoul, Tuesday. |
This year, however, the city wants to use the show as a medium for urban rejuvenation. Planners hope green injections can realize Mayor Park Won-soon's proclaimed alternative to the raze-all-style redevelopment that has wiped out the city's history and diversity for the last century.
"Instead of revamping existing parks, we thought it would be good to bring gardens into the neighborhood," Moon Gil-dong, an official in the city's landscape division, said. "Due to the limited preparation timeline of the show, we couldn't undertake long-term projects. So we focused on small garden plots in front of homes that residents could take care of on their own."
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| City official Moon Gil-dong stands in front of the city's landscape division office in Seoul, Sept. 24. |
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| A bus stop in Haebangchon is decorated with plants, Tuesday. |
The project started with finding pieces of idle land around Haebangchon. Most were on private property but local officials were able to convince the owners to let them borrow it.
Bigger plots and curbs were assigned to landscaping artists and students for a total of 11 mini-gardens scattered around the neighborhood. Local shopkeepers and residents also took part in the creation of 21 additional gardens ― 13 of them located in Sinheung Market, a sunken U-shaped alley in the middle of Haebangchon that has recently been taken over by young artists.
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| A new mini garden set up in front of a shoe store at Sinheung Market in Haebangchon. |
The garden show runs for a week, starting on Oct. 3. Unlike the other venues included in this year's show ― Malli-dong Square, Seoullo 7017 and Baekbeom Plaza ― most of the gardens in Haebangchon will stay in the coming months. Fifteen local gardeners volunteered to take care of them.
"I love flowers. In spring, I used to go around scattering seeds around the neighborhood and the nearby hill on my own," said Yoo Myeong-mok, 66, a resident gardener who is the owner of a local supermarket. "I'm happy they are doing this."
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| Yoo Myeong-mok, one of the 15 resident gardeners for the Seoul Garden Show, poses in front of the garden near her supermarket in Haebangchon. |
Yoo is in charge of two new gardens next to her supermarket. One is located in a small lot in front of a residential building and the other on the railings and sides of an outdoor staircase.
For the bigger artist projects, the assigned resident gardeners will get regular mobile messages from sensors monitoring soil nutrient and moisture levels to help them effectively look after the plants. The shopkeepers at Sinheung Market also agreed to bring the canopy plants set up on the iron railing roofs over the market road into the shops when the winter chill arrives.
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| Flowers have been planted along a staircase in Haebangchon. |
The city wants to continue neighborhood regeneration projects in future Seoul Garden Shows. Malli-dong, another low-rise neighborhood that connects to Seoullo 7017, is being mentioned as the next test site. The show will also make the garden show into an international event next year, inviting foreign artists and university students to take part, the city said.
Gardening fairs and concerts will take place along the 3.5-kilometer-long "garden road" that will be set up along Seoullo 7017 and connecting plazas. Along with these other venues, Haebangchon will hold pot-your-own-plant activities for visitors. Visit festival.seoul.go.kr/garden for the event schedule.
