Exhibition Greenhouse, Ilwol Arboretum (일월수목원 전시온실)

Ilwol Arboretum is Suwon's first municipal arboretum. According to the monthly Gardening the project dates back to 2014, and the official page gives January 2015 to November 2022 for the works. It was laid out beside the Ilwol Reservoir on former fields and paddies, using only the city's own budget; the landscape press says a citizens' forum in March 2019 and a suggestion box set up in the park (1,040 opinions collected) fed into the design.

The official opening took place on 19 May 2023, with the twin Yeongheung Arboretum following the next day (an article of 10 September 2023 speaks instead of a simultaneous opening on the 20th). On opening day the Newspim agency presented the exhibition greenhouse as the heart of the visit, just past the ornamental garden where roses were in bloom. It has since gained a reputation: the city's official blog in 2025 names it as a filming location for the series "The Queen of Tears" and as a photo spot so popular that people queue at weekends.

The official site-plan page gives the greenhouse a footprint of 2,912 m² and a floor area of 3,036 m², and describes it as an indoor exhibition space that doubles as a rest area, designed to show dry natural environments and to remind visitors of the importance of water. A 2023 article calls it a glass greenhouse; one visitor describes glazing rising to the ceiling and letting the blue sky show. According to Gardening magazine it stands about halfway along the visitor route and serves as a café and shelter.

The interior runs as a sequence: an Australia and New Zealand zone, then a desert garden that the path climbs, an oasis planted with wetland vegetation and, behind it, a structure with Greek-style columns that adds a Mediterranean note; an angel's trumpet stands near the exit. The trade press lists the Mediterranean rim, the Cape region, southern Australia, New Zealand, California, Mexico and central Chile among the regions represented.

At the opening, Newspim counted more than 300 species over about 3,000 m². The Australia and New Zealand zone shows eucalyptus and banksias, as well as kangaroo paws in several colours, which the city's blog spots in three or four places in the house. Further on, large and small cacti accompany the climb through the desert garden, as far as a tree with red flowers shaped like a rooster's comb (닭벼슬나무). The oasis brings together wetland plants. Near the exit an angel's trumpet (천사의나팔) is highlighted because a recent Korean television series had made it a motif. The city's blog also mentions succulents, a bottle tree and an olive tree.

The greenhouse is organised around the theme of dry climates, the oasis being the damp exception; the arboretum's other gardens (forest, meadow, wetland, winter garden) are outdoors.

The greenhouse is the third stop on all three routes recommended by the arboretum (1.2 km in 45 minutes, 1.5 km in 1 hour, 2.2 km in 1 hour 30), after the visitor centre and the ornamental garden. Mild inside, it suits cold days: in the depths of winter 2025 a contributor to the city's official blog described it as mild as a spring day.

The ground floor of the visitor centre, with its sunroom (the "Sunlight Garden"), café and botanists' room, is free to enter. Close by are the Ilwol Reservoir and lake park, and, further east, the National Museum of Agriculture and Yeongheung Arboretum, whose glass greenhouse at the edge of a pond can be visited in the same outing.