Your Spring comes with Mulhyanggi Arboretum
(Published February 23, 2012)

–[Learn how to relax in a botanical oasis (4)] Provincial Mulhyanggi Arboretum
–Opened in 2006, the arboretum has 1,718 species of plants in 20 theme gardens including its Ecological Wetland Garden.
 

◇ ‘Trees of Folk Art’ Garden in Mulhyanggi Arboretum in Sucheong-dong of Osan City, Gyeonggi Province ⓒ G-News Plus

“The kingfisher is not native here, but there is a pair of the birds living here year round. In the winter, the park is not as decorative, but beneath what we see or cannot see is a concerted effort for the plants here to sprout.”

On March 21, I visited the Provincial Mulhyanggi Arboretum in Sucheong-dong of Osan City, Gyeonggi Province. Won Dong-ik, a professional guide, explained to me a great deal about the plants in the arboretum.

Around the wetland where ice has not yet melted, pussy willows are budding, a sign of the arrival of spring.

The Ecological Wetland Garden is surrounded by hundreds of densely planted dawn redwood trees, some of which branch out from the middle of their trunks and some others branch out from the very base of their trunks.

As the arboretum is situated on flat land or low hills, everything including the woods and the grassland can be seen at a glance. The air is so fresh and clear that I almost forget that I am still in town.

Passing a resting place floored with wooden deck, I encounter a pine forest. Besides local pine trees, there are Chinese pine trees, the trunks of which turn white as they grow. There are a great variety of pine trees here.◇ Hydrophyte Garden ⓒ G-News Plus

Mulhyanggi Arboretum was created with a budget of KRW 7 billion and opened its doors in 2006. It is located in Sucheong-dong. Sucheong in Korean means ‘clean water’; that’s why the arboretum has so many water-themed gardens.

The arboretum has a total of 20 gardens, including the Wetland Plants Garden for wetland plants, the Hydrophyte Garden for submerged and floating plants, the Insectarium for insects, and the Mulbangul Greenhouse for subtropical plants like mango trees and cacti.

The arboretum is good for both school field trips and serious academic research: it features a myriad of familiar plants such as calamuses, lyre flowers and Chinese twinleaf shrubs as well as rare plants such as Korean firs and white forsythias.

The Hydrophyte Garden and the Ecological Wetland Garden are rated among the best ecological wetlands in Korea. Toads, mallards and herons have returned here after a long absence from this area.

The Topiary Garden displays wooden turtles, peacocks, dinosaurs, and Korean woodpeckers among others. The Maze Garden is fun and stimulates children’s imaginations while they try to find the exit.◇ The Mulbangul Greenhouse features subtropical plants. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang

The ‘Trees of Folk Art’ Garden features various trees mentioned in poems and songs created by widely beloved Koran artists like Kim So-wol, Lee Yuk-sa and Hong Nan-pa.

The Insectarium offers the extraordinary pleasure of watching insects transform and live. Insects living here include butterflies, beetles, stag beetles and diving beetles. 

The Mulhyanggi Arboretum has a total of 445,704 plants from 1,718 species, including 974 species of trees and 662 varieties of flowers, shrubs and grass in an area of approximately 330,600m² (34 ha).

In spring, trees like forsythias, cornelian cherries, azaleas, magnolias and ginger plants bud, as well as herbs like pasqueflowers, liverleaves, corydalines, pinamul (Hylomecon vernale) and corydalines. 

In summer, trees like retusa fringe trees, fragrant styrax, bridal wreaths and snowbells help beat the summer heat along with flowers and grass like tiger lilies, columbines, sealworts, orange stonecrops and lilies of the valley, and aquatic plants like lotus flowers, water lilies and loosestrifes. 

In autumn, siberian chrysanthemums, chrysanthemums, Korean starworts and asters signal that fall has come. Fruit-bearing trees like persimmon, chestnut and jujube trees planted in the Fruit Trees Garden help us feel blessed in the season of harvest. ◇ The Mulhyanggi Forest Exhibition Center features the ecology of forests and wetlands. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang

The arboretum is equipped with a great variety of convenience facilities like the visitor center, observatory, a grass yard, resting places in the woods, resting decks and drinking fountains.

The Mulhyanggi Forest Exhibition Center, a building with two stories above ground and one underground level, features a variety of planned exhibitions like a photo exhibition with the theme of four seasons in the arboretum in addition to some regular exhibitions. There are also spaces for hands-on experiences for wetland ecology along with more than 100 kinds of trees. 

If you go up to the observatory located at the peak of the arboretum, you can enjoy a panoramic view of the arboretum full of the fragrance of flowers and water. 

There are several programs for children, too, including ‘forest guide,’ ‘miniature drawing’ and ‘arts and crafts class using various fruits.’ This June, the arboretum plans to conduct ‘forest classes’ for about 4,000 pre-schoolers nearby.

◇ As the name of the location (sucheong) suggests, the Mulhyanggi Arboretum has many water-themed gardens. ⓒ G-News Plus

There are no shops or restaurants in the arboretum. If you bring lunch and snacks, however, you can have them in the areas designated for eating. Nonetheless, there are no trash cans in the arboretum, so you have to take all your trash with you when you leave. 

If you get off at Osandae Station, it is just a five-minute walk to the arboretum. By car, it takes about 90 minutes from Seoul, and 30 to 60 minutes from southern areas of Gyeonggi Province like the cities of Suwon, Hwaseong, Yongin and Pyeongtaek.

The arboretum is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. between March 1 and October 31, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. between November 1 and February 28. It is closed every Monday. Admission is KRW 1,000 for adults and KRW 500 children. http://mulhyanggi.gg.go.kr

ⓒ G-News Plus / Lim Jeong-seon / jslim123@kg21.net

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