In the middle of April, when the flowers were at their peak of bloom, I was able to visit and walk through Yeouido Park inside the city of Seoul, Korea.
We chose a beautiful day to visit as it was a warm day, but not hot. When the KATUSA Soldiers planned the trip they wanted to go while the flowers were at their peak and, consequently, this also made for a magnificent spring day in the park.
Amongst the hustle and bustle of the city, it is hard to imagine that such a beautiful place exists inside the city. The Yeouido Park is placed on an island on the side of the Han River in an area designed to be similar to Manhattan. The park provides a natural space for the people of Seoul to escape the busyness of daily life into a quiet oasis. Surrounding the park are tall high rise office buildings that remind you that you are really in a bubble in city one of the world largest cities.
Throughout the park, there are brick walking paths for walking or riding bicycles…or in some cases pushing strollers. Every where you walk is lined with flowers of every variety. I enjoyed seeing the design of the garden as it contained water features, wide areas, as well as standard flower beds placed comfortably around the park for the enjoyment of the visitors.
One of the unique features of this park was that the gardens did not contain the exotic plants one may expect. The flower contained wild flowers and annuals. The tree were native Korean plants, trees and shrubs that one would see outside the city. The appeal of this to me, is that the gardens could be replicated at any home or park anywhere around the world. The entire trip was an encouragement to me to find ways to bring natural plants into my garden at home.