The most distinct recent change in the global garden management sector is that public gardens and botanical gardens are reorganizing their maintenance systems to adapt to climate variability such as heatwaves, droughts, and torrential rains. Major urban garden management organizations in Europe, North America, and Oceania are adjusting management standards to enhance growth stability by controlling watering frequency and timing, expanding mulching, managing soil organic matter, and adjusting the proportion of drought-tolerant plants.
These changes are interpreted not merely as cost reduction, but as a response aimed at minimizing plant loss and maintaining the functions of public green spaces. Since public gardens simultaneously perform functions such as mitigating the urban heat island, providing relaxation for citizens, conserving biodiversity, and offering environmental education, management failures can directly lead to a weakening of urban ecological services. In particular, recently, multi-layered planting tailored to the local climate and soil conservation-centered operations are considered more realistic alternatives than high-input management focused on lawns and seasonal plants.
In terms of water management, there is a growing trend to move away from the practice of uniformly supplying water to the entire garden and instead adopt an approach that subdivides watering priorities based on planting types and soil conditions. This method involves designating young trees, newly planted areas, container plants, and high-sunlight exposed areas as targets for intensive management, while reducing watering in areas where establishment is complete. This approach is becoming an increasingly important standard in urban garden operations facing growing climate risks, as it allows for increased management efficiency while reducing water usage.
Soil management is also a key element of recent operational changes. Measures such as surface mulching, compost-based organic matter supplementation, soil compaction relief, and drainage improvement have a direct impact on reducing damage during heatwaves by enhancing moisture retention and root vitality. A prevention-oriented approach is being strengthened in pest and disease management, and there is a distinct trend toward integrating water, soil, and ventilation management with pest and disease response, due to the fact that secondary damage can be exacerbated in stressed plants.
In regions with high climate variability, such as London, UK; Melbourne, Australia; and major botanical garden metropolitan areas in the US, management personnel operations are also changing. This involves adjusting watering and inspection times to avoid the hottest hours of the day, and redesigning plant replacement cycles based on growth response rather than seasonality. This demonstrates that public garden management is being redefined not as a subordinate task of landscape maintenance, but as part of the operation of climate-adaptive urban infrastructure.
The implications for the domestic market are also clear. In an environment where summer torrential rains and heatwaves are recurring, Korean local governments, public institutions, and the private landscape management industry cannot separate water management from soil health. Moving forward, a system is needed that reflects maintenance difficulty and climate adaptability from the planting design stage, and manages watering data, soil conditions, and tree vitality information together during the operation phase. Recently, global trends in garden management are ultimately converging toward creating gardens that are less wasteful and last longer, moving beyond simply creating aesthetically pleasing gardens.
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