The greenhouse is an ancient invention, dating back 2,200 years. Modern ‘active’ greenhouses are distinguished from older ‘passive’ ones by the fact that they allow for the adjustment of air and soil temperature. Previously, the first such greenhouses were believed to have been built in Germany in 1619, using a stove to regulate air temperature, […]
Category: Gardens and horticulture
Exhibition visit: Circulation Metaphor, at the KCC
There’s a little bit of Jeollanamdo in the KCC at the moment. Although the exhibition is co-organised by the Asia Cultural Center in Gwangju, and by the Gwangju Museum of Art, the subject matter of the exhibition strays outside of the city limits into Damyang, Hwasun and further afield. The first work to engage you […]
2018 travel diary 2 – Chollipo revisited
10 November 2018. In Chollipo’s famous Arboretum the best of the Autumn colour had finished, but there were still some good reds, oranges and yellows to be found, and the grasses were particularly fine. In October last year this new statue of Carl Ferris Miller, Chollipo’s founder, was installed in this secluded area in the […]
A look at Hay Joung Hwang’s silver gilt winning LG Eco-City Garden
Two years ago at the Chelsea Flower Show Hay Joung Hwang teamed up with LG to showcase how technology can be used to maximise the benefits from an urban garden – from lighting to smart sensors to monitor the moisture and nutrients in the soil. Encouraged by the silver gilt awarded to the garden, the […]
Chelsea Flower Show: Hay-joung Hwang’s LG Eco-City Garden
After winning silver-gilt in 2016, let’s hope Hwang Hay-joung earns a medal upgrade this year: LG Eco-City Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show 22 – 26 May Designed by: Hay-Joung Hwang Built by: Randle Siddeley Ltd Sponsored by: LG Electronics LG Eco-City Garden represents the green space allocated to one housing unit in a ‘vertical […]
Hwang Jihae’s Shoes Tree project at Seoul Station
This year’s Chelsea Flower Show has just come to an end. No Korean participation this year, as far as I am aware. Last year Hwang Hay-joung won silver gilt for her Smart Garden sponsored by LG. But loyal readers will remember back to 2011 and 2012, when Hwang Jihae, without a big name corporate sponsor, […]
2017 travel diary 8: Taean-gun and Chollipo Arboretum
Mallipo beach, Taean-gun, Thursday 4 May 2018, 11:30pm. It was with a slight sense of adventure that I found myself unexpectedly on my own, in an unknown seaside town, at 11:30 at night. There was no way that I was going to settle down to sleep right then, so I left my pension room behind […]
Hay Joung Hwang wins Silver Gilt at Chelsea Flower Show
Congratulations to Hay Joung Hwang for winning a silver gilt medal for her first show garden at Chelsea. Hwang’s LG Smart Garden combined soft pastel-coloured planting in a very English style with clean, modern lines for an outside living space. The feature which caught everyone’s attention was the cantilevered pergola which reached over the terrace, […]
2016 travel diary 19: The Scholar’s Garden #1: Yun Seon-do on Bogildo
Bogil-do, Wando-gun, Jeollanam-do, 19 May 2016, 10:30am Way back in the mid Joseon dynasty, being a scholar official was a troublesome occupation. If you were a dedicated scholar you had to act in accordance with your conscience and the highest principles. Unfortunately, as happens with whistle-blowers today, your conscience could be severely career-limiting. If you picked […]
2016 travel diary 9: Busosanseong – the Baekje royal garden
Buyeo-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, 16 May 2016, 5:30pm. The Archaeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri Sometimes, collecting UNESCO points is not as fulfilling as it might be. The item of heritage that has been registered might not be particularly exciting to look at, even though it is historically important. But if a site is historically important you may well […]
Chelsea Flower Show 2016 to include Korean-designed LG Smart Garden
Korean garden designer Jihae Hwang won gold medals at Chelsea in 2011 and 2012. It’s a tough act to follow, but let’s hope Hay Joung Hwang also wins success with her LG Smart Garden, entered in the Show Garden category this year. Her style is very different from Jihae’s, with clean, modern lines rather than […]
Koreans help create a garden for London’s Royal Free Hospital
“What a strange thing,” you may think, “to do a spot of volountary service when you are on holiday.” But that’s exactly what four Korean travellers did this weekend in response to Kim Minho’s Korean online request for volunteers to help with the hospital garden. Kim Moon-sun came to learn English in London ten years […]
2014 Travel Diary day 8: Two museums near Yongin
A day-trip South into Gyeonggi-do to visit two top museums. There are other things to visit near Yongin as well as the Folk Village. Eulji-ro, Seoul, Friday 13 June, 9am. The Ho-am Art Museum in Yongin is home to a number of treasures. The museum opened in 1982 as the permanent home for the collection of Samsung boss Lee […]
A belated tour of March’s First Thursday openings
It was always going to be difficult to get round the three openings last Thursday: Bethnal Green, Bloomsbury and Mayfair are not easy to squeeze in on the way home after work. And as it happened I got to none of them, instead entertaining an overseas work colleague at the Old Justice, which I think […]
Hwang Ji-hae in miNiATURE, at Strand Gallery
Korean garden designer and environmental artist Hwang Jihae will be participating in a garden design show with a difference: miNiATURE 10 unique gardens by leading designers – in miniature! 6-8 March 2014 The Strand Gallery | 32 John Adam Street | London WC2N miNiATURE is a new platform aiming to give leading garden designers and […]
Expo visit: Hwang Jihae’s Hanging Garden of Billingsgate
One of the most prominent exhibits at the Korea Brand and Entertainment Expo at Billingsgate was not a hologram of Psy or an animated cartoon character, but a garden that was a full 22 metres long, dominating the space behind the main stage’s seating area. In an event designed to demonstrate the range of Korean […]
2013 Travel Diary #32: The Seokpajeong — a haven of peace in Buamdong
Seoul Museum, Buamdong, Seoul, Saturday 14 September, 5pm. There are two main reasons to visit Seoul Museum apart from any temporary exhibition that might be taking place: the important collection of 20th Century Korean art which seems to be on permanent display, and the Seokpajeong, the Joseon dynasty villa once occupied by the Daewongun. The […]