This study was conducted with the aim to find the bonsai maintenance manual that is readily available to ordinary bonsai people and reasonable management operation of the bonsai gardens in the arboretums and gardens registered in the Korea Forest Service. To that end, the survey was conducted to analyze the general status of bonsai gardens and whether visitors'' satisfaction was affected by which elements among facilities, growth management and managing the type of trees. For bonsai managers and visitors, it was to investigate interrelationships by comparing and analyzing between survey on the management operation characteristics and usage pattern & satisfaction level. The ultimate goal is to present a new management manual after comparing and analyzing the manager survey data and the management items presented in the previous theory on bonsai management.
To achieve these study objectives, the operational status of each bonsai garden was divided into public, private and personal, and figured out annual management processes based on the representative tree types. In addition, the demographic characteristics of managers and users, the importance and satisfaction level of the bonsai users were analyzed and revealed its characteristics.
The data used in the final statistical analysis processing was a total of 535 copies and the results obtained through this study are summarized as follows.
There are no significant differences among the 11 operators (5 public arboretums, 3 private arboretums, 3 personal gardens) who are operating the bonsai gardens and the average area of the bonsai gardens in the personal gardens is the largest at 11,387㎡. The total area of the bonsai gardens in the study is 48,873㎡, accounting for only 0.9% of the total arboretum area of 531.9 ha, but it is equipped with 3,898 bonsai trees (1,819 evergreens, 2030 deciduous trees, 28 vines, and 21 herbs) and automatic house facilities. The physiognomy of bonsai is greatest with 52.1% of deciduous trees and retained tree types are dominated by curvature (2,651 trees, 68%) without any differences in the physiognomy of bonsai. The shape of the pollen is most commonly used with an elliptical shape that matched the bonsai tree types
Visitors'' satisfaction level is shown to have a significant correlation with the importance of facilities, growth management and managing the type of trees. Specifically, the importance of facility management has a significant relationship with the importance of growth management and managing the type of trees, and the importance of growth management has a significant correlation with the importance of managing type of trees. Also, the higher the importance of managing the type of trees, the higher the satisfaction level of using the bonsai garden.
According to the analysis of the effect of facility management, which is an independent variable, on user satisfaction level, which is a dependent variable, by growth management and managing the type of trees, which is a mediator variable, the importance of facility management has a direct effect on the importance of the growth management, while the importance of the growth management shows to have a direct effect on the importance of managing the type of trees and indirect effect on the user satisfaction level. In other words, the importance of growth management had no direct effect, but the importance of managing the type of bonsai trees is used as a medium to affect user satisfaction, and the importance of managing the type of trees has a direct effect on user satisfaction.
As managing the type of bonsai trees is one of the most important mediated elements of user satisfaction of bonsai garden, it is necessary to compare and analyze the annual bonsai management process period, which is the standard for maintaining and managing the bonsai tree types, based on the bonsai theory and the site of bonsai gardens. According to the survey, the five representative species of trees preferred by users of bonsai gardens are pinus densiflora, juniperus chinensis, acer palmatum Thunb, chamaecyparis obtusa, and taxus cuspidata. Analysis of the timing of the bonsai management process based on them shows that the common matches are the timing of the pest control and layering and that the work that does not coincide is the pruning period. The annual work process for each species of trees shows that for pine trees, there is a difference in the theory and the site''s process for about wire rack and the skeleton framework and considering many things, it is thought that January-April, the working period of the site, is more appropriate. In the case of juniper, cuttage, repotting and pruning are different from each other, generally, the working times of the site are reasonable. Maple trees are appropriate to follow the presentation of the theories when there is a few works that can be individually managed, and it is better to follow the work process in bonsai gardens that is scaled up. However, the timing of fertilization is better in the management of the growth following the process of the theory. The process of cypress should be established to reflect the management method of juniper that is the same Cupressaceae, due to the insufficient theoretical establishment for now. Finally, in case of exus cuspidata, the process of multiplying/ dividing/ wire rack/ framework is recommended to be performed on site, and the timing for the pruning of branches/pulling off and thinning of the leaves is desirable as shown in the theoretical paper. Therefore, it is reasonable to present a reasonable management process for all bonsai tree types that reflect the timing of work at the site rather than following the contents of the theory.
This study was intended to produce results on how the visitor''s satisfaction was affected by which parameters, in the aspect of the research on the working process of the growth and tree type management and operational management of the bonsai gardens, which has been neglected in the meantime. However, there were various limitations in observing and analyzing the bonsai management on site in a short period of time. In the future, the research on various theoretical verification of bonsai, management techniques on site, and improvement of the management process of a wider range of bonsai tree species is to be continued.