This garden by Hwang Ji-hae inspired by Jirisan Mountain won a gold prize at this year's Chelsea Flower Show in London. (Royal Horticultural Society of U.K.) 

By Lee Jihae

A garden inspired by Jirisan Mountain, located in Korea's southern region, made by garden designer and environmental artist Hwang Ji-hae has won a gold medal at this year's Chelsea Flower Show in London.

The Korea Forest Service on May 30 said Hwang's "A Letter from a Million Years Past" on May 23 won the honor at the event hosted by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) of the U.K.

Based on the motif of a medicinal herbal colony on the mountain's southeastern section, the garden conveys the message of environmental protection through medicinal herbs and a natural landscape.

The garden conveys Jirisan's wilderness with its approximately 300 types of plants including Aconitum chiisanense, a flower indigenous to the mountain, the endangered Korean waxbell, and regional plants such as wild ginseng and the mountain herb deodeok. 

The garden is 10 m wide and 20 m long.

A small stream flowing between the rocks symbolizes the mountain's lifeline. In the middle is a 5 m-high tower influenced by a small building on Jirisan for drying medicinal herbs.

In her first entry in the show in 11 years, Hwang clinched her third gold medal.

In 2011, she won gold and the Best Artisan Garden award for "Haewooso," a garden based on a traditional bathroom.

The next year, her "Quiet Time: DMZ Forbidden Garden" won the highest-level RHS President's Award in the main competition's Show Garden category and a gold medal.

Launched by the RHS in 1913, the show is the U.K.'s leading garden and horticultural expo.

The late Queen Elizabeth II attended every year.

This year, King Charles III and Queen Camilla visited on May 22, the day before opening day. Kate Middleton, aka Princess Catherine of Wales, her two sons and her daughter made a surprise visit at the show's inaugural children's picnic.

The king first visited Hwang's garden and even gave the artist a hug at her request.

jihlee08@korea.kr