Mt Inwangsan, Seoul

Coming from central Seoul through Sejong Village, Mt Inwangsan in the distance.

The start of the walk through the Suseongdong Valley at the base of Mt Inwangsan. Unlike my usual plant photos, I have not cropped these as I wanted to capture all the background plants. Pine trees are everywhere in Seoul.

It's really dry in Seoul at the moment (October 2017) and the stream is completely dry.

perfect place for a cheeky prickly sow thistle to self-seed in a crack

traditional Korean roof amongst the ubitquitous pine trees

it is great when the plants are labelled

another example of the pink flowers above

close-up of the yellow flower above, so celandine-like but the examples I saw in Korea are very small, I don't know which one specifically

Euphorbia marginata

close-up of the flower

I think these asters are growing away from the original clump, see sign below

I think this must be the sign for those asters, extremely common in Seoul

Now I know what the aster leaves look like, I think that's a seedling on the left, on the right cosmos? At first I thought they looked like artemisia but the next example below provided clear leaves and flowers.

I'm assuming this is cosmos but so far (without researching it) I don't know which one.

gallant soldier amongst some plants I don't know

bidens I recognise but no label

these are just in bud at the moment but I wanted the plant label, for what we commonly call chrysanthemum, a (if not the) national flower of South Korea

another type of chrysanthemum (leaves are different)

I only saw the one lone hollyhock all day

although not in bloom, I wanted to show the plant label for the hemerocallis

horseweed, a weed I recognise from London

knotweed, also recognise this from London

plantain which was next to the knotweed at the beginning of the walk

I don't know the white flower in the middle but I recognise gallant soldier at the bottom and the small celandine leaves on the left

hostas are common in Seoul

this hosta has a pale purple flower unlike the white flowered one above but no label

I wanted the label but not sure which, if any, of these plants it's referring to

obviously hostas and not the Solomon's seal as on the label

unknown (to me) pink flower

I see a lot of these plants but without flowers (or a label) I don't know what they are.

After the area with the flowers, the serious climb begins, up a stairway to the temple, Seoul visible laid out below.

Namsan Seoul North Tower in the distance

at the top the solitary monk showed us the best views, including the Blue House (official residence of the president)

the door above is into a temple in the rock

There's another temple or shrine up the steps.

I love buds, often more than the flowers, perfect cosmos bud.

There were also celosia there by the temple.

spent hydrangea behind

chrysanthemums and marigold

looks like forget-me-not in the background but I have no idea from a brief snapshot, also a weed looking a bit like nipplewort?

tree or shrub seedlings, unknown so far