Spirited Garden
Bonsai theme garden of stone walls and koi ponds, shaped by one man's fifty-year fight against Jeju's typhoons.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Spirited Garden in Jeju follows Seong Beom-young, a shirt maker from Seoul who bought a patch of worthless volcanic rock in 1968 despite locals' warnings, working by kerosene lamp with no water or power. It traces his decades-long fight to keep miniature trees alive on an island hit by roughly three typhoons a year, and the stone walls he built by hand to break the wind before it reached the pots. Look for how the walls curve, tucking the smallest trees into the leeward side.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Hallim Park
Subtropical garden built over reclaimed sand dunes, with palm avenues and a lava tube found hidden beneath them.
Camellia Hill Botanical Garden
Sprawling camellia arboretum with thousands of trees from eighty countries, in bloom through winter.
Innisfree Jeju House
Beauty flagship built on a green tea garden reclaimed from volcanic wasteland, with a tea museum and soap-making workshop.
Jeju herb garden
Landscaped herb garden with a greenhouse, lavender plaza, and a nightly LED light display.
Osulloc Tea Museum
Organic green tea farm and museum with hands-on tasting classes and a working roastery.
Jeolmul
Cedar recreation forest of hand-planted trees around a spring long believed to ease aches and pains.