Changes of Flower Festivals and Plants Usage for Scenery by Period and Region in Korea

This study was conducted to provide basic data for future landscape flower research by analyzing changes in flower festivals and plant usage for scenery in regional festivals with the theme of scenery flowers held from 2006 to 2019 in Korea. Among the 10,800 regional festivals held from 2006 to 2019, the number of festivals related to landscape flowers by period and region, and the types of plants and their production status were analyzed. Flower festivals were held at an average of 94 events annually, with 1,312 cases, accounting for 12.1% of local festivals. Regional festivals declined from the peak in 2008 and have been increasing since 2014, whereas the rate of flower festivals decreased slightly from 2008 to 2010 and continued to increase, accounting for 15.5% in 2019. By season, the average hosting rate was 66.7% in spring, 25.7% in autumn, 6.8% in summer, and 0.8% in winter. By region, Jeon-nam has an average of 18 events per year, and the number of events has been increasing since 2010, while Gyeong-nam has an average of 10 events per year, which has continuously decreased since 2010 and has increased since 2016. In addition, approximately nine events were held annually in Gangwon-do, Gyeonggi-do, Seoul, Jeon-buk, and Chung-nam, followed by three to four events in Chung-buk, Gyeong-buk, Jeju-do, and Daegu, and two cases in Incheon, Ulsan, Busan, Gwangju, and Daejeon. Overall, there were few flower-related festivals in metropolitan cities except Daegu. The number of events held in 2019, including small-scale festivals searched online, was Gyeonggi-do (49), Jeon-nam (40), Seoul (28), Jeju-do (25), Chung-nam (25), Gyeong-nam (24), Gangwon-do (17), and Gyeong-buk (12). For landscape flowers, woody plants were used as theme plants in an average of 51 flower festivals yearly, followed by annuals (11 cases), grasses (9 cases), perennials (8 cases), aquatic plants (3 cases), and bulbous plants (3 cases). Twenty-six species were used as main plants, including woody plants (12 species), annual plants (4 species), grass (4 species), perennial plants (3 species), and bulbous plants (3 species), and most plants except bulbs were used repeatedly in two to four festivals. Flower production for scenery creation was in the order of Gyeong-nam, Jeon-nam, Ulsan, Gyeong-buk, Jeon-buk, Gangwon, Gyeong-gi, Choong-buk, and Choog-nam. By species, chrysanthemum and marigold were produced for more than 1 million pots, pansy and petunia were produced more than 500,000, and cauliflower, begonias, crape myrtle, Dianthus spp., scarlet sage, and cockscomb were produced for more than 100,000 pots.