In this blog post, I will compare and analyze the current state of Korean botanical gardens and identify areas for improvement based on my visits to British botanical gardens through the Global Challenger program.

Program Introduction and Tour Theme

Global Challenger is a program offered by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at Seoul National University that provides overseas training opportunities to current students aspiring to enter the agricultural industry. I applied as part of a team called “Caption Planet”—formed with two classmates majoring in Forest Environment and Crop Life Sciences to symbolize the protection of global plant biodiversity—and was selected to spend a month in the UK. Our team’s research focused on the role of botanical gardens in protecting plant biodiversity and strategies for their advancement.

Overview of the Survey of South Korean Botanical Gardens

To understand the current state of botanical gardens in South Korea before visiting those in the UK, we conducted surveys at various domestic botanical gardens starting one month before our departure. We approached our comparison subjects by categorizing them into three groups: large-scale private botanical gardens, specialized native plant gardens, and university botanical gardens.

Visit to Hantak Botanical Garden

Hantak Botanical Garden is the largest private botanical garden in South Korea, and we visited it to compare it with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the world’s largest botanical garden. Thanks to the President of the Korea Botanical Gardens Association, I was able to spend valuable time with the Director of Hantak Botanical Garden. Hantak Botanical Garden began in the 1970s, when native plants were neglected, driven by the conviction to create a world-class botanical garden. Over the course of about 30 years, it has grown into a garden featuring approximately 9,000 plant species and 35 themed gardens. However, behind this large botanical garden lay many difficulties. The biggest problem was the near-total lack of funding; with insufficient donations and admission revenue, the director was effectively running the garden using his own personal funds. Additionally, there were staffing issues, such as the reluctance of graduates from horticulture, landscape architecture, and forestry departments to work at the botanical garden, leading to the hiring of non-specialists and the need for extensive retraining. Furthermore, the staff’s level of expertise in plant classification and management was insufficient, causing significant difficulties in plant management.

Visiting the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Upon arriving at London Heathrow Airport, the first place I visited was the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Kew, with a site area of approximately 1.2 million square meters, houses 45,000 species and 6 million plant specimens. It is not only the world’s largest botanical garden in terms of scale but also holds a large collection of endangered plants. As a world-renowned botanical research center, it has had a profound influence on the advancement of plant taxonomy. Since 2000, it has spearheaded the protection of endangered plant species through the “Millennium Seed Bank (MSB)” project, setting a goal to collect and cryogenically store seeds from over 24,000 species in underground vaults by 2010. It possessed a conservation and research system on a completely different level compared to Han-taek Botanical Garden, which focuses primarily on increasing the number of species it holds. Furthermore, Kew covers its operating costs—such as repairing old buildings or purchasing new plant species—through membership fees. The membership system is diverse, including Premier Friend, Season Ticket, and Life membership tiers, with annual membership priced at £39 and lifetime membership at £1,090, offering a relatively wide range of pricing options. While this membership system is worth considering for Hantak Botanical Garden, it would be difficult to establish in South Korea, where botanical garden culture has not yet matured.

Comparison of the Korean Native Plant Garden and the National Botanic Garden of Wales

To compare it with the National Botanic Garden of Wales, I visited the Korean Native Plant Garden located in Gangwon Province. As its name suggests, the Korean Native Plant Garden is a private botanical garden established for the conservation of native species. It was designated as the first private botanical garden in 2002 and, in 2004, was designated by the Ministry of Environment as an ex-situ conservation institution for endangered wild flora and fauna, conducting research on the conservation and propagation of endangered wild plants.
Guided by the head of the plant management team, I confirmed that the garden is home to approximately 2,000 plant species, including 25 species of endangered wild plants designated by the Ministry of Environment, such as Korean bellflower, Korean ginseng, mountain peony, and yellow-striped iris. At the time of our visit, the Korean bellflower had proliferated significantly, which demonstrated the potential for endangered plants to thrive with proper care and protection. However, due to budget and staffing shortages, the Native Plant Garden focuses primarily on collecting specimens from Gangwon Province, and efforts to collect species from outside the province are limited to what staff members bring back during visits to their hometowns, highlighting the center’s limitations.
Laura Davies, the curator who served as our guide at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, explained various approaches to botanical garden conservation. Although the National Botanic Garden of Wales is a newly established garden with a history similar to that of the Korean Native Plant Garden, it was several steps ahead thanks to the accumulated expertise of British botanical gardens. In the center of the garden, a large glass greenhouse had been constructed to house rare plants from around the world. In the breeding complex, researchers were conducting studies to identify and develop cultivation soils suitable for plants from various countries by varying soil conditions within greenhouses that simulated specific climatic conditions. It was also impressive to see how they attracted the interest of both tourists and the local community by encouraging participation through various events for local residents. In contrast, the Korean Native Plant Garden was struggling to attract tourists due to its remote location in Gangwon Province.

Comparison of University Botanical Gardens: Seoul National University Arboretum and Cambridge

Our team visited the Seoul National University Arboretum to compare it with the University of Cambridge Botanic Garden. Unlike national, public, or private botanical gardens, university botanical gardens must place a greater emphasis on research functions. They must meet the needs of the university and create an environment where students can effectively study plants. While the Gwanak Arboretum is well utilized as an educational site for Seoul National University students—such as through visits for courses in Forestry and Arboriculture—it has limitations in providing materials for research. To use plants for research purposes, their origin must be specified; however, since no database of the plants planted in the Gwanak Arboretum has been established, it cannot provide researchers with immediately usable resources. Another issue was that the arboretum was primarily used by Seoul National University students and was not well known to the general public.
On the way from Wales to London, I also visited the University of Cambridge Botanic Garden. Introduced by my professor, I toured the garden guided by curator Tim Upson. I was particularly impressed by the apple tree at the entrance, which was planted from seeds taken from the very tree under which Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation. The Cambridge Botanic Garden had enhanced educational efficiency by planting specimens by family, and by establishing a database, it had laid the groundwork for utilizing not only specimens but also living collections as research materials, thereby greatly aiding research. Furthermore, it operated a system where research plants were planted and managed separately for each researcher and professor, allowing researchers to receive plants through official procedures when needed. This stood in stark contrast to the reality at Seoul National University, where research labs must embark on collection trips to Gangwon Province or Mount Jiri every time they need research materials.

Conclusion: Maturing Botanical Garden Culture Is the Priority

While South Korea’s botanical gardens are advancing every year in terms of fundraising, species diversity, and research facilities, they still fall short in many areas when compared to those in advanced nations like the UK, the US, and Germany. I believe that for South Korea’s botanical gardens to advance further, the maturation of a botanical garden culture is the most urgent priority. If the general public takes an interest in the beauty and mystery of plants and makes donations, and if students majoring in relevant fields enter the botanical garden sector to work as professionals, South Korea’s botanical gardens will be able to grow into proud institutions like Kew.