1 The rooftop garden of Kim Jung-soon, who lives on the top floor of a building in the city center. 2 Kang Yeun-sim has turned the yard she has access to as a first-floor resident of her apartment building into a fantastic garden she can share with her neighbors. 3 The balcony of the Korea Craft & Design Foundation gallery, designed by garden designer Seo Su-hyeon; flower boxes are used to great effect to adorn the small space. 4 The rooftop garden of Bethel Kindergarten in Haengdang-dong, Seoul, where children have the chance to experience nature.
flowers offer me hope whenever I might sink into despair,” says another. Growing flowers is not the exclusive domain of housewives and women. Similarly, the qualities of flowers are not necessarily feminine. Kim Jung-hoon, a businessman, says, “Beautiful flowers that I have raised in nice pots are a kind of love letter to my wife.” There are also office workers with an insatiable thirst for knowledge about trees, and military
officers who adore flowers. The Hyorim Botanical Institute, founded by Choi Byung-cheol, a professor at Konkuk University who passed away last year, brings together people like these who share a passion for flowers and plants. The institute houses hundreds of potted plants that Professor Choi, a foremost authority of field botany, had raised over the course of more than 40 years. From a sprawling yew tree that is over 600 years old to pine trees and lilies of the valley, there are countless plants that exhibit a brilliant and magnificent vitality. Professor Choi gave special lectures here from time to time. In addition to providing all manner of information about methods of caring for potted plants, he spoke about ways to select pots and to appreciate trees. Jeon Hae-soon, who manages a day-care center, happened to visit the institute a few years ago and was so inspired by the sight of the numerous old flowerpots that she began to cultivate a wide variety of her own potted plants. These days she devotes much of her time to showing flowers and forest trees to city children. You Jeong-su, who says Professor Choi taught her that “growing potted plants can be an art,” held an exhibition of some 300 potted plants to celebrate her 70th birthday. Her former high school classmates all admired, and even envied, her as she sat among her cherished plants. Some people turn their entire apartment verandas into a huge flowerbed. Kang Yeun-sim, who lives in a first-floor apartment, has created a veranda garden, in addition to cultivating the yard adjacent to her unit. Because the veranda does not receive much direct sunlight, she laid down a drainage board, which was covered with a non-woven fabric and topped with soil. She then planted flowers that could grow in partial shade and shallow soil. She also added potted plants, placed the stumps of old trees against the walls, and attached plants, like orchids and climbing bagbane, to a wooden lattice. The entire veranda is like a lush rainforest. From the living room, the green of the verandah and the yard beyond greet the eye like wave upon wave of greenery. When she travels with her family, her neighbors help out with the watering. Kim Jung-soon, who lives on the top floor, maintains a small veranda and rooftop garden where flowers are abloom from spring through summer. The veranda is enclosed with glass from floor to ceiling, which allows in an abundance of sunshine, enabling her to plant a wide variety of flowers and “enjoy all the varied shapes and colors they have to offer.” She has made use of antiques, placing a stone mortar for a water jar near the faucet. Ladders, chairs, and even a suspended laundry line harmonize with such flowers as roses, geraniums, Miss Kim lilacs, and hydrangeas. The lettuce and China pinks she grows on the roof are as big as cabbages. “Every time I visit the florist there are always new plants that catch my eye,” she says. In this way, her garden changes gradually as the plants flourish and wither away. K o r e a n a ı A u t u mn 2 013
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