Cactus Greenhouse, Changwon Arboretum (창원수목원 선인장 온실)

Changwon Arboretum is a municipal project launched in January 2010 on 10.4 hectares in the middle of the city, opposite the Chunghon memorial tower, at a cost of 9.8 billion won according to the daily Gyeongnam Domin. The themed gardens were created in stages from 2010 to 2014. In 2016 the city defined the site's specialty: a maple forest outdoors and, indoors, a greenhouse devoted to cacti, completed in March 2017. In 2018 a management building with laboratories, an indoor exhibition building and a cultivation greenhouse for growing plants in winter were added, then in 2019 supplementary plantings of cacti and subtropical and tropical plants to increase diversity.

The arboretum was registered on 12 March 2020 as South Gyeongsang's third public arboretum and inaugurated on 3 June 2020, eleven years after the works began according to the same daily. The indoor facilities, exhibition hall and greenhouse, had been closed during the pandemic: a municipal notice of 9 March 2021 announces their reopening, and in early 2022 the city's official blog still mentions a temperature and vaccination check at the entrance.

The city's official blog speaks of a greenhouse "built of glass" (유리온실), reached by a flight of steps from the garden. The official page gives an area of 1,480 m². The route begins at the entrance baobab, which the blog calls the tallest tree in the greenhouse; a loop to the left circles the cactus beds, then a decked path climbs to a viewing platform from which the whole greenhouse can be seen, with tropical flowers of many colours blooming beside each pillar.

The greenhouse stands next to the arboretum's exhibition hall, which explains the history and ecological value of the plants. The complex was completed in 2018 with a management building with laboratories, an indoor exhibition building and a winter cultivation greenhouse.

According to the official page, the greenhouse holds a baobab, cacti, banana, papaya and mango trees, with other warm-climate plants and colourful flowers; the opening-day article counts 387 species and 6,621 plants, cacti and tropical plants together. The city's blog also mentions bougainvillea, a watermelon cactus (수박선인장), cacti compared to a "golden club" (금망용) and a "silver club" (백망룡), a "mink" cactus with soft spines (밍크 선인장) and a papaya tree heavy with fruit.

Sculptures of fennec foxes and meerkats, evoking The Little Prince, hide among the beds; the city's blog speaks of the "Little Prince's friends". Outside the greenhouse, the arboretum holds, according to the press, some 1,205 species and 230,000 plants.

The arboretum covers 104,716.5 m² in the middle of Changwon, near City Hall. The outdoor park is open at all times; the cactus greenhouse and the neighbouring exhibition hall have their own hours, and admission is free. In winter the greenhouse is a warm refuge: the city's blog recommended it in 2022 as a cold-season outing where short sleeves are enough.

Around it, fifteen themed gardens (fourteen according to another page) can be visited: the Sky Garden and its viewing platform, the European garden, the Children's Song Forest, Flower Hill, the rock garden, and in autumn the sweetgum and maple avenues. Forest guides offer free tours starting at the entrance of the exhibition hall. Gentle slopes and a step-free entrance suit strollers and wheelchairs.