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 … [Read More]
Category: Gardens and horticulture (page 2)
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, … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
A belated tour of March’s First Thursday openings
In this article we visit Chung Heeseung: Inadequate Metaphor, at HADA Contemporary, Sun Ae Kim: Quotidian, at Mokspace; Bae Joonsung: Costume of a Painter / Hwang Seon-tae: Sunlight at Albemarle Gallery / Shine Artists; and last but by no means least Hwang Jihae: miNiATURE, at the Strand Gallery It was always going to be difficult to get … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
2013 Travel Diary #18: Suncheon Garden Expo — The Korean Garden
Suncheon-si, Tuesday 10 September, 11:30am. As we emerge from the container tunnels on the western bank of the river we are beginning to wilt in the heat and we are sorely tempted to exit the expo at the nearest gate. But then we catch sight of a frozen (and non-alcoholic) cocktail stall which gives us … [Read More]
2013 Travel Diary #17: Suncheon Garden Expo — The Bridge of Dreams
Suncheon-si, Tuesday 10 September, 11am. The expo precincts are shaped like an inverted triangle, its long northern baseline lying on a straight road which leads eastwards to Gwangwang and westwards towards the tea fields of Boseong. This baseline is about two kilometres long, but in the heat it feels three times that. At the Sancheong … [Read More]
2013 Travel Diary #16: Suncheon Garden Expo — The Lugworm’s Trail
Suncheon-si, Tuesday 10 September, 10am. Like many areas of the Suncheon Garden Expo, Hwang Ji-hae’s garden, which was the main reason for my coming to Suncheon in the first place, also limits its reliance on floral colour. Looked at from above, or viewed from the source of the water (top left of above image) which … [Read More]
2013 Travel Diary #15: Swirls and spirals in the Suncheon Lake Garden
Suncheon-si, Tuesday 10 September, 8am. After the rich variety of the hanjeongsik food the previous evening, the buffet breakfast at the hotel offered comfort for a lazy western palette. I could have had some Korean food – miso soup, noodles, rice, the normal offering – but instead I went for toast, omelette, frankfurter, and tomato … [Read More]
The Suncheon Bay Garden Expo 2013 opens in Jeollanam-do
Hwang Ji-hae, Korea’s best-known garden designer, won’t be at Chelsea this year. After two consecutive Chelsea gold medals, she’s taking a break from what is possibly the world’s most prestigious flower show, and instead has been concentrating on designing a garden closer to home: for Korea’s first International Garden Expo at Suncheon, Jeollanam-do. The Mayor … [Read More]