LKL gets an exclusive look at the construction of the DMZ “Quiet Time” garden, by Korean designer Hwang Jihae, at the Chelsea Flower Show.
With the increased tension on the Korean peninsula the narrow strip of demilitarized land which separates north and south is ever more in focus. The timing of Hwang Jihae’s appearance at Chelsea with her DMZ “Quiet Time” garden is serendipitous. And given the gold medal she won last year for her Haewooso garden, expectations for her 2012 show garden are high.
What has been less fortunate is the UK’s weather, which has been abysmal for gardeners this spring, and many exhibitors at Chelsea are despairing as their plants look like they are not going to be flowering in time. And although the DMZ garden relies more on greenery than blossoms nevertheless the designer is finding it difficult to source planting which will inject a bit of colour.
The first week of construction at Chelsea has been horrible – wet and cold. But despite this the team has managed to construct the centrepiece of their garden: a DMZ military watch-tower. The unusual garden has been getting a lot of attention from fellow garden-constructors at Chelsea. After all, a garden with rusty bits of metal (intended to look like discarded military hardware), broken railway tracks and a barbed-wire fence is not your average Chelsea Show Garden fare.
So Hwang Jihae’s team have put up a notice board containing photographs of the DMZ to give an idea of the landscape they are trying to recreate – nature which has been left wild and undisturbed for 60 years, in the midst of which are relics of a war which, as the North continually reminds us, is still unfinished.
Creating, in the space of little more than two weeks, a garden which looks as if it has been in place, untouched and almost forgotten for 60 years is an immense challenge, and requires a massive attention to detail. Hwang has been searching English woodlands for rotten tree-stumps which look just right; the Dartmoor stone from which her team is building a bunker has to have just the right amount of moss – and she has bags of the stuff to apply as necessary.
While some of the plants, and the more structural elements of the garden, are sourced in the UK, around 60% of the planting has actually been imported from Korea – quite a task in itself, particularly getting the plants through customs.
But the project is about more than the technical challenges of making a peaceful space that looks as if it has been there for decades rather than just days. It is about the symbolism of a divided nation, and about the sacrifices of the soldiers who defended the liberty of the South.
The barbed wire fence which divides the garden and encircles the watchtower cuts across a disused railway track: where once there was regular communication and commerce, now there is division and separation. But beside the rusty rails will be a small stream, symbolising the fact that nature knows no boundaries, and that the water can flow freely through artificial barriers. And where the centre of operations currently is (their little shed at the corner of the plot), there will be a memorial chair made out of military ID tags of war veterans. As a finishing touch, hanging from the barbed wire fence will be cans containing letters from soldiers and divided families.
With a week to go before the garden is judged, and then opened to the public, there’s still a herculean task to complete. Much of the garden was still just mud when I visited on Thursday 10 May, with a huge amount of planting still to do. But even seeing the garden in its unfinished state was an incredibly emotional experience. I can’t wait to see it finished.
Links:
- LKL’s complete coverage of Hwang Jihae’s gardens at Chelsea 2012 and 2011
- Quiet Time: DMZ Forbidden Garden on Facebook. Please donate using the Paypal sign.
- Chelsea Flower Show – DMZ Garden page