New life in the old tree nursery in the Großer Garten

Saxony's state palace administration is relying on tree nurseries instead of imports to furnish its historic gardens and parks. In the Great Garden, the "green lung" of the state capital, the area, which was created in the 19th century and operated until the Second World War, is being revitalized until October. "The first pedunculate oaks have now moved into the tree nursery," said Claudius Wecke, Head of Gardens at Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen gGmbH (SBG). They could then be planted out after two years.

Cultivation beds, a tree nursery and tree university, a tool shed and a shade shed are being built on around 5,000 square meters. According to Wecke, several hundred acorns will be planted first in order to produce the offspring for the plantation's important oak trees. Later, winter lime trees will also be grown there for the avenues, said Wecke. Expensive species that are difficult to obtain or particularly hardy trees will also be planted. Historic plants that are important for the garden monuments are also to be propagated and secured identically.

"The park's own tree nurseries have always been part of the historic grounds," said Wecke. "We are rediscovering what previous generations of gardeners have already used successfully, enriching it with new knowledge and using it as an important building block in coping with climate change." The consequences of this are "frighteningly clear" in gardens and parks. Year after year, more and more trees are dying and more and more are damaged, Wecke said. At 390 trees, more than twice as many had to be felled in 2023 than two years previously.

Thanks to a federally funded model project on climate change in historic gardens, "we can take concrete action and take countermeasures", said SBG Managing Director Christian Striefler. Trees grown in the revitalized nursery are adapted to the respective conditions and grow better, while the in-house cultivation also prevents the introduction of plant diseases.

Other locations have also been and continue to be cultivated in-house: 100 horse chestnuts for the park avenues at the Moritzburg Palace Nursery, the rare high-stemmed lilac or the copper beech for the pleasure garden at Pillnitz Palace at the former royal vineyard nursery in Pillnitz.