Mapo-gu Revives Discarded Flowerpots to Create Red Road Decorations

Tree Planting Event on the 30th... Recycling 87 Large Flowerpots Left on the Streets to Plant Crapemyrtle Trees

Residents' Hand-Painted Panels (?) Attached to Flowerpots to Create Red Road Scenery

Mapo-gu (Mayor Park Gang-su) will hold a tree planting event on the 30th at 2 PM in front of KT&G Sangsangmadang on Red Road with about 300 residents ahead of the 78th Arbor Day.

This tree planting event will not involve planting trees in parks or mountains as usual, but will recycle large discarded flowerpots on the streets for planting. The large flowerpots created this way are planned to be used for creating the scenery of Red Road street.

The flowerpots used for the tree planting event are 87 large flowerpots that had been left abandoned or worn out on the streets. Due to their large size, ranging from about 1m to 2m in width, these iron flowerpots (62 units), wooden flowerpots (21 units), and stone flowerpots (4 units) were often left as is because they were difficult to move even though they spoiled the street view.

Before planting, repair work such as nailing was done to firmly fix the worn wooden flowerpots, and a total of 374 plants including 254 crapemyrtle trees and 120 ironweed plants will be planted.

In April, paintings will also be applied to the 87 flowerpots after the work is completed. Pieces of panels (wooden boards painted with oil paintings) measuring 20 cm wide and 24 cm high will be attached together to transform the dark and monotonous flowerpots into public art pieces. The panels will be filled with drawings created by local daycare centers and elementary, middle, and high school students.

Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo-gu, said, “Crapemyrtle is also called Baekilhong tree because it blooms for 100 days from July to September. When it blooms, the flowers lining Red Road are expected to add value as a tourist attraction,” and added, “I would like to express my gratitude to the residents who take their precious time to participate in this tree planting event.”