Gardens stand out in competitions held by Korea Forest Service and others

Nam-gu's Grass Garden wins grand prize in lifestyle garden contest

Jung-gu's naturalistic garden takes silver in design competition

City aims to transform from industrial hub to garden city

The Taehwagang Grass Garden (left), which won the grand prize at the 2026 Best Lifestyle Garden Case Competition organized by the Korea Forest Service and the Korea Arboretum and Garden Management Institute, and the Taehwagang Naturalistic Garden (right), which received a silver award in the space and environmental design category at the 2025 Good Design Product Selection organized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. [Provided by Ulsan City]
The Taehwagang Grass Garden (left), which won the grand prize at the 2026 Best Lifestyle Garden Case Competition organized by the Korea Forest Service and the Korea Arboretum and Garden Management Institute, and the Taehwagang Naturalistic Garden (right), which received a silver award in the space and environmental design category at the 2025 Good Design Product Selection organized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. [Provided by Ulsan City]

The themed gardens being developed within Taehwagang National Garden in Ulsan ahead of the 2028 Ulsan International Garden Expo have drawn top marks from the Korea Forest Service, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and other agencies, drawing attention as some of the finest lifestyle gardens in the country.

The Taehwagang Grass Garden, developed by Ulsan's Nam-gu district within Taehwagang National Garden, won the grand prize in the comprehensive outdoor garden category at the 2026 Best Lifestyle Garden Case Competition, organized by the Korea Forest Service and the Korea Arboretum and Garden Management Institute.

Nam-gu has been developing the Taehwagang Grass Garden in phases from 2022 through next year, planting ornamental grasses and flowers across a 99,500-square-meter riverside site along the Nam-gu bank of Taehwagang National Garden, from below Beonyeong Bridge to the Myeongchon Bridge stretch, at a total investment of 6.3 billion won ($4.71 million).

The competition was held to promote carbon neutrality through identifying outstanding lifestyle garden cases and to expand the social and cultural role of gardens.

The Korea Forest Service and the Korea Arboretum and Garden Management Institute evaluated a total of 362 indoor and outdoor lifestyle gardens established between 2020 and 2024 — including 144 outdoor gardens in residential areas and small towns, 101 outdoor gardens in residential zones, and 117 indoor gardens in public facilities — through document and on-site reviews.

In Ulsan, the Taehwagang Grass Garden took the grand prize in the comprehensive outdoor garden category, while the Gaon Masil-gil in Jung-gu's Ujeong-dong won the excellence award in the outdoor garden management and utilization category. The Gaon Masil-gil garden operates as a garden-learning space. With its grand prize win, the Taehwagang Grass Garden plans to offer a higher level of garden culture to domestic and international tourists at the 2028 Ulsan International Garden Expo.

The secretary-general of the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH), Briercliffe, visited the Taehwagang Grass Garden in November last year to review preparations for the 2028 Ulsan International Garden Expo and praised Taehwagang National Garden, saying Ulsan "is presenting a unique urban model that combines an industrial landscape with garden culture."

Earlier, in November last year, the naturalistic garden developed by Ulsan in the Jung-gu section of Taehwagang National Garden — the first of its kind in Asia — received a silver award (special green design award) in the space and environmental design category at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's 2025 Good Design Product Selection.

The Taehwagang Naturalistic Garden was created on an 18,000-square-meter site within Taehwagang National Garden, featuring 157 species of perennial plants, including the native Korean species Eupatorium fortunei, to offer an ecological landscape that changes with the seasons. It is the first public garden in Asia designed by world-renowned garden designer Piet Oudolf, who created New York's High Line and Chicago's Lurie Garden.

"Ulsan's efforts to transform from an industrial city into a garden city are being recognized externally," a city official said. "We will continue to develop lifestyle gardens that reflect the region's unique character, provide tourists with a high-quality garden culture, and successfully host the 2028 Ulsan International Garden Expo."


cityblue@heraldcorp.com