When the days get longer and start to feel warmer, it marks the arrival of spring, the season of regeneration and renewal. The whole nature awakens and so do flowers. 


It is also when South Korea’s biggest flower market springs back to life, after a long, dark winter. 

When The Korea Herald visited early this week, Yangjae Flower Market was already dominated by colorful spring flowers: freesia, tulip, royal azalea, Japanese apricot flower, daffodil, anemone, hyacinth, crocus, begonia or winter aconite, you name it. 


Wholesalers, florists, locals and tourists were taking a stroll down the aisles, browsing through flower stalls, picking the flowers they like and negotiating the prices.

Opened in 1991 and located in southern Seoul, the 21,000 square-meter market houses wholesale and retail stores, green houses and an auction house. 


Its flower auction house is open from midnight to 1 p.m., Monday through Saturday, bringing in both imported and native fresh-cut flowers, plants, trees and seeds. The retail zone opens from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, while the potted flower zones open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The market is about 10 minutes away on foot from exit 4 of Yangjae Citizen’s Forest Station on the Shinbundang Line. Parking is available.

Written by Ock Hyun-ju
Photo by Park Hyun-koo