Arboretum Mlynany

During my first visit to Slovakia, in 2010, I was not able to get into the Mlynany arboretum. Fate turned out to be more favorable only in August 2015, when the coveted trip to the largest dendrological park in Central Europe came true. I had to see all the variety of conifers and deciduous species brought from different parts of the world to this wonderful corner of the earth, where climatic conditions are favorable for their growth.

Monument to the founder of the Arboretum - Stefan Ambrosi-Migazzi

The manor is now the administrative building of the arboretum

Arboretum is located at the southern foot of the Carpathian spurs, 145 km east of the capital of Slovakia - Bratislava, in the Nitra region, south of Zlate Moravec. It was founded at the end of the 19th century thanks to the indomitable activity of a plant lover - a nobleman of Hungarian origin Stefan Ambrosi-Migazzi (1869-1933). He was born in France, in Nice, was educated in Vienna and Budapest. After getting married in 1892 in Mlynany, he acquired an estate with an area of 40 hectares. On the site of a hornbeam and oak grove, he laid out a park and built a romantic-style mansion with turrets, lions and attractive sculptures. According to his project, the idea was to create an "Evergreen Park" where you can admire coniferous and deciduous exotics all year round. For the period from 1892 to 1914. managed to collect almost 700 species and varieties of plants.Due to World War II, the introduction work was stopped and resumed only in 1922.

Arboretum Mlynany

Picturesque pond

Since 1953, the arboretum belongs to the Slovak Academy of Sciences and covers an area of 67 hectares. The modern manor house is an administrative building, which houses a library, a memorial room, the World of Trees museum, meeting rooms and scientific seminars.

Japanese garden

Arboretum Mlynany

It is impossible to see the entire collection of the Arboretum, which includes 2 thousand plant species, at one time. For a start, it is wiser to follow the 5 km long walking trail and observe the plants planted along it. Aboriginal representatives of European flora, including Slovak, are located on a site of 4 hectares. Near the entrance we see European larch (Larix decidua) - the weeping shoots of the Pendula variety literally run into the ground. A clump of abundantly fruiting chestnut trees is noticeable(Castanea sativa). Among the toothed lanceolate leaves hang ruffy fruits, in which sweetish edible nuts later ripen. At the end of November, this European long-liver will already start falling leaves. Away from the path, in a clearing, a bright red pyracantha (Pyracantha coccinea), strewn with orange fruits, beckons. This evergreen thorny shrub is commonly used in Europe for sustainable hedges.

Sowing chestnut

Pyracantha bright red

Dendroflora of North America is represented on an area of 7.5 hectares and includes many conifers. The majestic pyramidal rocks are planted in rows - virginian juniper (Juniperus virginiana) up to 30 m high, rocky juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) with a narrow-columnar crown, rigid juniper (Juniperus rigida) up to 6 m high.You can see Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi) with large green needles and cones up to 20 cm long and one-color fir (Abies concolor). Here grow Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), Menzies' false beetle (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and Lawson's brickworm (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), which are grown all over the world. There is a hybrid cupressocyparis of Leyland(Cupressocyparis leylandii), obtained by crossing a cypress with a cypress. Conifers look beautiful among boulders and talus next to streams in rugged terrain.

European larch Pendula

Jeffrey Pine

The pride of the arboretum is the oldest specimen of the "mammoth tree", the giant sequoiadendron (Sequoiadendron giganteum) with a columnar trunk, directed to the sky at a height of 35 m. This relict giant that lives in the forests of North America was first brought to Great Britain from the Pacific ocean. In nature, there are less than 500 such trees left, some of them reach a height of 135 m with a diameter of 12 m. They are thermophilic and are preserved only in southern latitudes. The tallest tree on the planet , the evergreen sequoia (Sequoia sempervirens), also grows here. In North America, its height is more than 100 m.

Sequoia evergreen

Giant sequoiadendron

Interesting is the Californian Torreya, or nutmeg (Torreya californica) - an evergreen coniferous tree with hard needles and fragrant wood. Plants up to 15 m high are dioecious, female specimens form megastrobili on the shoots, which bear fruit. The seeds are surrounded by a flesh like that of the related yew. Calocedrus decurrens (Calocedrus decurrens) originates from North America, where the trees live up to 700 years old, reaching a height of 50 m. It is also different sexes, is characterized by the shape of the bumps on the male and female trees.

Torreya california

Calotsedrus descending, female cones

Among the deciduous trees, there is an elegant tulip tree, tulip liriodendron (Liriodendron tulipifera) up to 30 m high. In addition to tall specimens, a group of young trees that can surprise visitors with luxurious flowers in the future is planted in the meadow along the path. Evergreen Pieris (Pieris floribunda) from the heather family was brought from North America, effectively blooming at the ends of the shoots.

Tulip tree

For the fruits that ripen in spring, witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is called the "magic nut". Closer to autumn, the leaves on the oak- leaved hydrangea bush (Hydrangea quercifolia) become bright, but they remain neat and glossy on the evergreen medicinal laurel (Laurocerasus officinalis). All parts of this plant are poisonous, with the exception of the red fruits.

Hydrangea oakleaf

Lavrovychny medicinal

For many years since the founding of the Arboretum, preference was given here to the exotics of the East Asian flora, located on an area of 14 hectares. By 1966, almost 500 species were planted, representing more than 1.5 thousand taxa. An important stage in the construction of this part of the arboretum took place in the 1980s, when expeditions for plants from China and North Korea were regularly equipped from the former Czechoslovakia. Today, almost half of the entire species composition of the arboretum is concentrated in the East Asian area. Here grows a relict metasequoia glyptostrobus, or dissected cone (Metasequoia glyptosrtoboides). For the winter, a slender tree with a height of more than 10 m drops its needles. In the Cretaceous period, it grew in Siberia and America, but to this day it has survived only in China. Among conifers, you can see Japanese cryptomeria(Cryptomeria japonica), or "Japanese cedar", especially revered in Japan, a relative of cypress trees.

Metasequoia glyptostrobus

Cryptomeria Japanese Elegans

Decania Fargez (Decaisnea fargesii), belonging to the primitive Lardizabal family, was brought from China. A tree up to 3 m high with large odd-pinnate leaves up to 75 cm long. During the period of acquaintance with it, long bluish-green pods ripened, for which it is called the "sausage tree". Its flowers are collected in greenish-yellow panicles. Evodia Daniel (Euodia daniellii), synonymous with Daniel's tetradium (Tetradium daniellii) of the Rutaceae family, was brought from Korea, a spreading tree up to 10 m high.We found it at the peak of flowering and saw inflorescences with white honey flowers. A living fossil is preserved here - ginkgo biloba (Ginkgo biloba) with a lush crown.

Decenia Fargesa

Evodia Daniel

The hillsides and open meadows make for a better view of the picturesque corners of the Arboretum. Conifers and deciduous plants adorn the banks of the ponds, where bridges, stone lanterns and a Japanese-style gazebo are built. The thermophilic c inoxylon cousa (Cynoxylon cousa) with original edible fruits is unusually beautiful in bloom. Originally from China and Japan, it was formerly called Cornus cousa and later Benthamidia and Dendrobenthamia.

The oriental flavor is supported by rhododendrons and exochords (Exochorda albertii) from China. Calopanax seven-lobed, or dimorph (Calopanax septemlobus) is decorative, but poisonous. It has long been used in oriental medicine along with ginseng. Unusual pineal buds of magnolia naked are not ignored, or naked (Magnolia denudata) more than 10 cm long. In the sun they become crimson red and more visible among the green obovate leaves. Paulownia felt, or imperial (Paulownia tomentosa) 8-10 m high, acclimatized from the tropical zone of China, are strewn with abundant bunches of fruits - capsules. It blooms beautifully with delicate purple flowers. It is sometimes called the “Adam's tree,” probably because the large, heart-shaped leaves could well have served as a garment for Adam. In Russia, paulownia grows only in the south. The Chinese scarlet (Cercis chinensis), “Judas tree”, which is remembered at the first acquaintance with it by its very bright flowering, bore fruit.

Magnolia naked, or nude

Paulownia felt

Chinese scarlet, or Judas tree

Near the trail, the varietal Viburnum farreri (Viburnum farreri) clung to the ground. In general, it is a tall, fragrant shrub with white flowers and red fruits, but the Nanum variety is compact and not prone to fruiting. An interesting evergreen Chinese barberry of Juliana (Berberis julianae), the spherical crown of which is protected by powerful tripartite thorns. The dark blue fruits are not edible, but adorn the bush at the end of the season, especially when the leaves turn yellow-red.

Kalina Farrera

Juliana's barberry

We observed flowering of kelreuteria paniculata (Koelreuteria paniculata) of the sapindaceae family, originating from China and Korea. Its golden yellow flowers are very melliferous. When it was acclimatized in North America, it became an invasive species there.

Kelreiteria drooping

The highest ailanthus (Ailanthus altissima), a tree up to 20 m high, brought from China, where it is cultivated for breeding silkworms, bore fruit. He settled down so well in Slovakia that he began to settle independently. White acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia) and bush amorph (Amorpha fruticosa) from North America, which require close attention of dendrologists, were also invasive species.

Aylant the highest

Shrub amorph

The Arboretum in Mlynany is open to visitors all year round, just as its founder wanted. In the autumn-winter period, evergreen conifers are especially interesting, and in May-June there is a "peak of flowering" of deciduous trees and shrubs exuding subtle aromas. Although our visit to the unique Arboretum took place at the end of summer, when many shrubs and trees have already faded, the impressions about them will remain for many years.

Photo: Alla Kuklina, Alisa Galchenko, Yulia Vinogradova, Gennady Firsov