King Charles falls in love with the beauty of K-garden

“Would you mind if I hug you?”

On Tuesday (local time) at the “Chelsea Flower Show” in London, England, garden designer Hwang Ji-hae asked King Charles III of England, who toured the garden she created together. Charles III smiled brightly and responded with a warm hug. Hwang's hands folded on the back of Charles III were bandaged from joint to joint from laborious work. On the opening day of the Flower Show, King Charles III first visited Hwang's show garden among the other gardens in the competition. Sitting on the herb drying tower in the garden, the king was also seen conversing with Hwang. The artist won the Gold Medal in the Show Gardens category on Tuesday.

Hwang, a garden designer and environmental artist, resumed work in earnest in 2015 after recovering from an illness and took part in the garden design competition with her garden, “A Letter from a Million Years Past,” inspired by medicinal plants in Mount Jiri. Korean herbs such as Megaleranthis saniculifolia, Filipendula formosa, Anemone flaccida, Oplopanax elatus, Schisandra chinensis, and Aconitum austrokoreense were planted on a 10-meter wide and 20-meter long piece of land for three weeks to recreate the herb community in the southeastern part of Mount Jiri. Over 200 tons of stones were used at different heights in the terrain to express the hillside where the stream flows. A 5-meter tall wooden building modeled after a herb drying tower was also installed.

Hwang's garden is considered to be in line with the message of the flower show, which emphasized sustainability and coexistence with the environment. The Royal Horticultural Society of Britain, which hosted the flower show, briefed that Hwang's garden design "introduces the balanced ecosystem of Mt. Jiri, where more than 1,000 native medicinal plants grow, and Korea's ecological restoration project that has prevented the extinction of native plants." In a review of the Show Garden section, The Times, a leading British daily, said of Hwang's garden, "It looks more like a landscape than a garden. Rocks, a stream, and native Korean plants stand out beautifully.”

Hwang, who majored in Western painting in college, has been working as a world-class garden designer since winning awards at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2011 and 2012 in a row. In 2012, "Mudflat: Sewn by Mother’s hand – Suncheon Bay" in Lons-le-Saunier, eastern France, is preserved for good. The Hoban Cultural Foundation sponsored the production cost of her flower show garden.


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