Here, there, flop. I think I saw more frogs in one day than I ever saw in my entire life. The mosquitoes that I tried to shoo away with my fan were also very aggressive. No wonder there was a sign in front of Ming-A-Ju that said, “Crush a leaf and apply the juice to mosquito bites.” If there is a utopia for insects, or insectopia, this would be it. Listening to the chirping of all kinds of birds, including cuckoos and owls, I even thought that the city was somewhere in the process of being re-wilded.
●The first-generation private botanical garden representing our country
Gicheongsan Botanical Garden in Cheongha-myeon, Buk-gu, Pohang-si, Gyeongbuk. Cheongha (淸河) is a place name that means clear water. Vice-Director Lee Eun-sil (56), daughter of founder Director Lee Sam-woo (83), said.
![A wild landscape created by the spirit of a scholar… Gyeongbuk Pohang Gicheongsan Botanical Garden [김선미의 시크릿가든]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/09/16/130049781.1.jpg "A wild landscape created by the spirit of a scholar… Gyeongbuk Pohang Gicheongsan Botanical Garden [김선미의 시크릿가든]")
“This is Araceae. The originally lush leaves are falling over as the fruit ripens. The flower looks scary like a cobra, but it is actually very poisonous. In the past, it was used as poison for the king. Now, after research, it is used as a medicine. If Araceae is the basic species, there is also Araceae that only grows on Ulleungdo. The leaves have stripes, and the green fruit turns red as it ripens. I don’t know if it is birds or wild animals that carry this fruit, but since some time ago, it has been growing all over the botanical garden. At first, people did ‘ecological landscaping’ imitating nature, but since then, birds and bees have been taking care of it. It’s really amazing.”
The Gicheongsan Botanical Garden is where Director Lee Sam-woo, a graduate of Seoul National University’s Department of Forestry, transformed his father’s orchard into a botanical garden like a wild forest. As a disciple of the late Professor Lee Chang-bok (1919-2003), known as the father of Korean botany, he realized the value of our native plants early on. He came down to his hometown of Pohang in the mid-1960s and laid the foundation for the botanical garden by planting Japanese maple and elm trees.
The fruit trees were eaten by bugs as they became a paradise for insects by introducing natural farming methods that do not use pesticides, but people began to appreciate the beauty of our native plants that we have carefully planted and raised. The Gicheongsan Botanical Garden is the first-generation private botanical garden representing Korea and has become a textbook for botany students. There are about 2,000 species of native plants living on the 20,000-pyeong site, and about 800 of them are rare and endemic plants.
●Guardian of domestic rare and endangered plants
The purpose of establishing this botanical garden is to ‘contribute to the opening of a Hongik Ingan world where nature and humans live in harmony’. Its representative activity is the ex-habitat preservation of domestic rare and endangered plants. It systematically preserves and propagates wild animals and plants that have become extinct or are endangered in their original habitats due to indiscriminate capture, thereby maintaining biodiversity.
In particular, we are conserving endangered plants on Ulleungdo Island, which is close to Pohang. For example, the island firefly tree grows only on Ulleungdo Island in the entire world. Since it grows on cliffs and rarely bears fruit, its survival ability is very weak. Experts at the Gicheongsan Botanical Garden periodically visit Ulleungdo Island to monitor this plant. When the plant is collected or collected by the Gicheongsan Botanical Garden, which is an ex-situ conservation organization, it is preserved through artificial propagation research and mass propagation. We need to thoroughly manage the history of the plant and register it in the National Plant Species Management System to properly manage forest life resources and prevent imported plants from being disguised as native species and distributed. This is exactly what the arboretum is supposed to do.
●Trees that teach us how to live
As you walk through the Gicheongsan Botanical Garden, you can often see fallen trees that have rotted away. This is because it is seen as a natural cycle in itself. I also saw a fence made of ginkgo trees for the first time here.
The director stood in front of the elm tree. “This tree is truly amazing. It lives half the year with almost no leaves. If the leaves grow thickly and cast a shadow, other plants cannot grow well, so it yields solar energy. There is much for us humans to learn from the world of trees.”
The 15m tall, 350cm chest circumference Larch, also known as the ‘King Tree’, is a must-see. Its respiratory muscles are so well developed that it is said to resemble the scene of 500 Arhats gathering to hear the Buddha’s sermon. Director Lee says, “It is a tree of loyalty that repays kindness, so we treat it to a mal of makgeolli every year.”
What does this mean? “The place where this tree used to be was not originally owned by our botanical garden. One day, about 10 years ago, I was near the tree when a large excavator came in to build a housing complex. I stopped it right away and took out a loan to buy the surrounding land, and I suffered for a long time due to the interest burden. One day, I was grumbling in front of the tree, ‘Shouldn’t you pay some of the interest out of loyalty?’ Less than 10 days later, a broadcasting station proposed a special program about this tree. After the broadcast, visitors flocked from all over the country, and I was able to pay off a year’s worth of interest. It was the year that this tree turned 50, the age of knowing one’s destiny.”
●The potential of ‘K-Eco Tourism’
September is the season of rhododendrons (flower clusters) at Gicheongsan Botanical Garden. Various rhododendrons, such as red-and-yellow rhododendrons and latitude rhododendrons, can be seen starting in mid-September after blooming in the summer, but this year, due to the heat, they are expected to bloom after the 21st. Personally, whenever I see rhododendrons, I feel a sense of sadness, as if they are wearing red lipstick to hide the sadness of ‘unfulfilled love’ (flower language).
The botanical community and related industries respect the Gicheongsan Botanical Garden, saying, “Without pride and mission, an individual cannot maintain it for this long.” However, the reality is not easy. Three generations, including the vice-director’s daughter and grandson, work at the botanical garden and add strength, but compared to the newly opened national and public botanical gardens, the facilities are old and there is no room for investment. For those who want to meet wild nature and our native plants, it is a jewel-like place, but for those who expect flashy facilities and exhibits, it may be a dull place.
Nevertheless, the Gicheongsan Botanical Garden is a place with great potential for ‘ecotourism’ (travel aimed at environmental protection and regional development) that raises awareness of the importance of a sustainable ecosystem. When the Gicheongsan Botanical Garden introduced Ulleungdo’s rare and endemic plant conservation activities at the World Botanical Gardens Congress held in Singapore last month, officials from each country showed great interest. Wild animal and plant tourism is a ‘hot’ field these days worldwide. I can imagine tourists flocking to see plants that can only be found in Korea and to hear the songs of birds that the plants invite.
Before that, I hope that our people will value the true value of our plants more, that private botanical gardens in Korea will maintain their entrepreneurial spirit and traditions while also having the courage to transform to fit the times when necessary, that businesses and botanical gardens will cooperate more, and above all, that the leaders of society will recognize that Korea’s unique plants are a valuable resource for future generations.
2024-09-18 04:24:23