Seoul is freezing. It’s well below freezing. Today it is -15 degrees celsius. In these temperatures even the trees and the ground need to wrap up warm. I have seen these kinds of winter wrappings before in Japan, although I’m not sure I ever saw the ground itself wrapped. There is a kind of perfect meeting of utility and aesthetics in this practice. The bare trees are made accidental sculpture. (Perhaps not so accidental.)

Metal pegs and a lattice of ropes keep matting in place, giving an almost button-upholstered effect.

Rows of pots have straw hats on.

Dead plants protect living ones. In a country where ancestor worship has been a fundamental part of the culture, this seems very fitting.