This study was performed to determine what the plant material were selected to reflect in the 2016 Korea Garden Show designer's garden. It was analyzed that plant material was used to display the theme of the garden and to create a specific space. Under the given theme of 'K-Garden, Shinhallyu Garden(new style garden culture) with the most Korean taste', the plants were used to highlight the theme in two types: 'representation' and 'expression'. There were two 'representation' gardens that imitate a particular space of Korean taste and four 'expression' gardens that showcase the designer's thoughts with abstract concepts and concrete objects. Three gardens included both types of garden. The way of revealing the subject with plants was used more for 'expression' than for 'representation'. There were eleven spaces for 'representation' of the Korean taste, a vegetable garden, faucet, pond, field, nature, a Hanok court garden, groves of bamboo, tile roof, stone wall, rock and backyard of a Hanok connected to the mountain. The planting material was used in two ways: reflecting only the ecological characteristics of the plant, and considering the ecological and visual characteristics together. Vegetation plantings reflecting the ecological characteristics were observed in all eleven spaces. Nine of the spaces reflected the growth environment of the plants, but the other two did not reflect the ecological characteristics of the plants, unlike the designer's intention. In the case of the four spaces that considered the ecological and visual characteristics together, color and size were considered visual characteristics. The plants in the seven spaces that included 'expression' as the theme were selected to reflect the visual characteristics in the order of color, shape, texture, and size, rather than reflecting ecological characteristics. A group planting method was applied. When the plants were used as materials for creating space, Norman(1989) analyzed three enclosure factors(overhead, vertical, ground plane). Only two deciduous trees were used in the overhead plane while five species of evergreen shrubs and thirty species of various deciduous plants were used in the vertical plane. There were forty-five species (nine trees and thirty-six herbaceous plants) forming the ground plane, and various herbaceous plants were utilized without duplication in each garden. The designer's garden of the Garden Show played a role in introducing new groundcover plants to the public. Three of the nine gardens did not include ornamental plants, and the use of decorative plants in other gardens was few compared to the number of plantings. In the Korea Garden Show designer's garden, most of the plants were being used with the intention of exposing the theme or architectural uses. In the 2016 Korea Garden Show designer's garden, many species of plants were used as materials for showcasing themes rather than for creating spaces. Also, the method of 'expression' was used more than the method of 'representation' in order to highlight the theme. This indicates that the planting materials reflect visual characteristics such as color, shape, texture, size rather than ecological characteristics.